The Other Half of a Hero
by Fenrir Riku
Summary: Dark Link claims to be under new orders, claims to want to help. Is he trustworthy? Sometimes he seems like two different people. The story of Link learning that it takes more to be a Hero then a sword and Triforce. Dark/Link yaoi, language.
1. Inner Weakness

Authors_ note: In case no one had noticed, i'm only used to writing more humerous stories. This is an attempt to widen out my field of writing in order to improve. My first area to attempt is romance and, to switch things up a bit, this story contains Yaoi. If you don't like it, don't read it. You have been warned. Otherwise, enjoy and review if its not too much trouble. Thank you all in advance ~_

The Other Half of a Hero

Link stumbled his way through the third of the temples on a quest to awaken the sages. This temple, the Water Temple was by far the most miserable. Glancing up from underwater he spotted a black and white bulls-eye and heaved a mental sigh of relief. His hookshot rocketed out and latched onto the target, hauling Link out of the water to fall with a clank onto the cold stone floor.

He took a quick glance around at his surroundings. Fortunately, no monsters lay in wait. Just a door and four brown ceramic pots lining the cool blue tiles lining the walls. The Hero of Time slumped to the floor, panting as he kicked off the first of the heavy iron boots that allowed him to traverse the watery depths.

He sighed wearily, kicking the second boot off and sitting up to massage his aching calves. "Alright, C'mon Link, we're fine. Those things are just heavy, that's all." He said to himself in an attempt to cheer himself up. Never mind that he was utterly miserable at the moment. Sure, the Zora tunic allowed him to breath underwater but it did nothing to keep the chill of the water out.

Link continued the arduous task of loosening the plethora of knots in his muscles; especially down in his calves. The heavy iron boots that kept him underwater were absolute murder on the legs, plus, they'd held a decent amount of that self same water which had left Links toes very reminiscent of prunes… In fact, the rest of his body had followed suit after so many hours trudging around underwater. The boy's lips curled back in disgust as he peeled off his sopping wet gloves, ringing out as much water as he could back into the pool from which he'd entered.

Finally, the screaming ache in his legs started to die down but he knew from the previous days experience that to try running around again so soon was inviting disaster, so, he decided to stop for some sleep in this safe little alcove of the water temple, though he'd never get to sleep in sopping wet clothes. Sighing, he began the arduous task of undressing. Aside from getting off his heavy, salt-crusted leather belt which didn't feel like cooperating after so much exposure to water, the next task was simply the time consuming act of emptying his pockets but his bow and arrows, hammer, extra bottles and various other items eventually lay stacked neatly in the corner.

Now significantly lighter, he stripped off the soaked Zora tunic, and leggings, as well as the heavy chain link armor he wore beneath it, laying them all out to dry as well as they could in the time it would take him to wake up. Biting his lip, Link went to go pillage the pots against the wall for some spare hearts or if he were really lucky, a fairy. A sudden gust while he searched the final jar and pulling out a second heart left him shivering near uncontrollably as the drafty breezes that permeated the temple ghosted across his nude body. Still, hopefully it would be worth it to be dry for a little while. Having been waterlogged almost constantly since he'd arrived, the feeling was getting to be a little more than he could handle. Hunched in ball, all he could think was that this temple was by far the most miserable.

Then again, that's what he always thought. Trudging through the Forest Temple, he'd thought _that_ was nasty; going through the humid forest, getting stuck in spider webs and sticker bushes, covered in scratches and rashes and sweat while being attacked not only by monsters but hordes of biting insects, not to mention the twisting corridors that didn't always lead to the same place, the ghosts and the eerie voices that seemed to echo out of no where…

Then, the Fire Temple. Heat, as its name would imply. Easily reaching over 120 degrees, Link had been sweating nonstop the entire three days it took to finish that temple. While the heat wouldn't be fatal, the tunic he'd obtained from the Goron city didn't protect him from forming a collection of burns across his body. Covered in burns and bat bites that stung constantly from the sweat running down into them and air so hot it hurt to breath made him wish for the days of the Forest Temple, and now here he was, doing the same thing all over again. What sort of temple could be next that would be bad enough to make him return to fond memories of this hellhole? The images materializing in his head looked decidedly unpleasant.

Being drenched to the bone and having to lug around heavy weighted boots that made his legs scream out in pain while being stuck underwater, unable to breathe at all had him longing for the days of the Fire Temple again. At least it was warm there. Here, all he had to look forward to was stagnant water… and nothing to drink. That was so insanely frustrating, but Link was not about to trust any of the water here, not after all the creatures he'd seen moving around in it. The image of a Like-like popped into his mind. Nope, definitely not drinking the water.

He shuddered to think what the next temple would be like… but it could also have been the chilly stone floor that made his body shake so. Quickly and methodically he started rubbing down his arms, chest and shoulders to get his torpid blood moving again. Slowly, the friction dried his skin and brought feeling back into his upper body. With that section dry, he pulled a dark green forest tunic over his head. Fortunately, he'd thought to put his two spare sets of clothes in a waterproof pouch before coming here.

The tails of his tunic came down slightly past the waist so he started at his feet and worked his way up, massaging sore muscles and getting blood coursing through his veins. Now, as the Hero of Time, it was expected that nothing ever go according to plan. He'd seen that law hold true time and time again, but as he sat there in the corner, vigorously rubbing warmth and feeling back into his thighs, the faint arousal growing from the attention was the last thing he expected.

Link snapped his jaws shut, slightly irritated at the blood stirring a reaction between his legs. Being still cold and wet however it could be prevented from happening, but he knew if left unattended, it would keep him up all night. He just continued rubbing himself while he debated the situation. On the one hand, in the middle of an ancient temple on the bottom of a lake on a journey to save the country, one would think that he deserved a little time to himself. On the other hand though, he couldn't help but think that it was a very un-herolike thing to do. Never mind that, having jumped forward in time by seven years, he'd effectively thrown himself right into the middle of puberty and now controlled a body capable of doing such things. He couldn't help but be curious...

'Its just for the sake of a good nights sleep' he finally told himself as he started to explore this new aspect of his adult body. He also figured that if he were going to do it, he might as well take advantage of the location. It felt kind of good to be able to just throw his head back, panting and gasping and moaning as loud as he wanted. After all, what did the monsters care?

Though he'd started off cold, the little "exercise" routine left him with a faint sheen of sweat. Perhaps this temple would be over soon and the rest wouldn't be so bad? Not likely, but the hero could hope as he lay back on his other spare tunic to catch up on a few hours of sleep.

It ended up just being a quick nap for about four hours, but Link woke feeling fresh and ready to face the rest of the Temple… until he spied those hateful boots sitting in the corner. Hopefully they wouldn't be needed quite yet. Link tried to stay optimistic as he grabbed his boots and finally opened the dark copper door that had been sitting unobtrusively against the wall for the past several hours.

Link was stunned. He was at the bottom of a lake so how on earth could he be standing outside!?

Straight ahead sat a small sandy island with a single stunted tree. The island was surrounded by a 'sea' of shallow water stretching far off into the distance to both the left and right… though he couldn't see very far. Dense fog or something like it obscured his vision, keeping him from seeing too far, but overhead it was just like staring up into the sky.

"Something doesn't feel right about this…" Link murmured uneasily, drawing the Master Sword from the sheath on his back. He stepped forward into the shallow water that covered the floor of the room and slowly approached the island. He half expected the tree to attack him or for some monstrous creature to come raging out of the mist, but as his boots touched sand, nothing happened. Cautiously stepping to the side he circled the entire tree without incident before hazarding to touch the tree. It felt like a normal tree and other then flaking off a few small bits of bark, nothing happened.

Link finally understood the phrase 'Too quiet.' One glance told him that the door through which he should be leaving was secured by solid iron bars. Frowning, he jogged back to the door he came in only to find it barred as well.

Taking a deep breath, the Hero of Time turned and set off into the dense mist gripping his blade tightly, ready to react at a moments notice to whatever horrible fiend lurked out of sight. His senses strained to their highest limit, ready to leap, duck,roll or attack in an instant so he was totally unprepared when he walked face first into a wall.

Groaning, Link pushed himself to his feet and hesitantly stretched his hand out and hit something solid. It looked like there was still an infinite stretch of otherworldly fog that a person could wander in for days without ever finding anything, and then finally when their strength failed they'd be consumed by some spectral beast and spend eternity in… No, obviously not. After all his battles against the macabre forces of evil, the Hero of Time did tend to get caught up in his imagination sometimes.

Slowly, be began walking the length of the invisible wall to see if there were some break in the wall to go through and release the bars.

"Don't bother. This room isn't nearly as big as it looks. You can trust me on that one" came the commentary from the fog. The voice didn't sound malicious, only amused, but at what? Link's leather gloved fingers tightened on his sword as he slowly turned around to see the speaker sitting casually against the tree in the middle of the room, watching. It was Link.

At least, it would be Link if he'd had black hair instead of blond and garnet eyes instead of sapphire… and wearing a black tunic instead of green. Though he looked calm enough, a dark version of the Master Sword lay on the ground next to his shadow so he knew he was in for a fight, but the shadow made no move other then stretching and crossing his ankles.

"Hero of Time. Welcome… to my humble home." Without getting up, the shadow made a casual gesture over to the tree. " Have a seat, make yourself at home. I guess it technically is in a weird sort of way… What? No one ever talk to you before?" he asked when Link made no kind of acknowledgement.

"Well…" Link began hesitantly, "You have a sword. Are you not going to fight me?" In truth, this whole situation had him baffled. His previous experience said not to let his guard down, but he'd always been the trusting type and this new arrival didn't seem all that dangerous. Still…

The shadow shrugged, holding up the blade to examine it in the light before dropping it again. "Yeah. I'm supposed to defeat you… but I've been waiting here for years, its my room and right now I'd rather have a little conversation… or would you rather we jump right to the fight?"

Link shook his head and dropped his sword into the sheath strapped to his back, strolling over to have a seat in the sand by the water where he could keep an eye on his mysterious doppelganger who seemed content to just lounge against his tree. "So, how do you like the rest of the temple?" the black haired Link asked, and it didn't take long to get a reply. "I hate it, but it needs to be done. Duty above all else."

"Then sooner or later it'll be my duty to take you down" Dark shot back. "But don't worry, I'll give you plenty of warning." At the merest mention of combat Link tensed up, but Dark seemed not to notice, chatting happily about whatever topic he came across. Mostly though, he ended up asked questions. How did Link get started on the journey? What was it like being the Hero? What was it like outside? From that last question, Link wondered if this poor creature had ever been outside this room.

"Nope" was his sad reply. "You were right. Duty above all… but that can wait, can't it? Its nice like this…"

And with that, he returned to asking questions and Link wound up telling the story of his entire adventure. He didn't think he was all that good a storyteller but Dark was leaned forward, listening intently the entire time when he wasn't poking around for more details. With no method to track it, Link had no idea how long they talked but he knew it was a long time before he finally stood and drew his sword again "Alright… I've spent too much time here. I need to be moving on."

Dark sighed and stood but he really didn't look all that happy. In fact, he looked somewhat depressed "Fine. Another question first though…"

In spite of the time they'd spent together, Link was still expecting the other boy to undergo some sudden mood swing and demand his obedience to the dark lord or something utterly cliché like that.

"What's your name?"

Again his own mirror image had caught him off guard. How? Could he be losing his touch already?

"M-my name? It's… Link"

"Link huh?" The shadow said his name slowly, rolling it around in his mouth like he was tasting a new food. "I suppose that makes me Dark Link." Dark grinned. If nothing else went right today, at least now he had a name all… well, not all his own but close enough. This name had a pleasant enough feel that he could make due.

" Well Link… Then I want you to do me a favor. I want you to surrender." Dark whispered, slowly advancing on the Hero of Time. Link jumped back, holding his sword at the ready when he realized that Dark had left his behind as he advanced on Link, his black clad body hunched forward like a stalking predator… and indeed that's what he looked like with his ruby red eyes staring hungrily at his prey.

Link slowly backed away trying to think what to do. He was a Hero, no way would he attack an unarmed opponent, but the way Dark was walking… slowly backing him into a corner made him very nervous. Link backed himself all the way into the invisible wall on the side of the room and as soon as he hit it, Dark was there, pinning Link's shoulders to the invisible barrier of fog and he could feel the warm breath tickling his ear as the other whispered to him, "C'mon Link, you're the hero and you're my first friend. You couldn't do something horrible like take my friend away, right?"

The fangs of Guilt sunk deep into the Hero's conscience, but he wouldn't give in. "No! I can't… What I want isn't important compared with what the rest of Hyrule needs."

"Aww, come on Link, you deserve to think of yourself for once. Everyone gives in to their dark side every once in a while" he whispered seductively, pressing a hand to Link's stomach and slowly rubbing his way down, til one of Link's heavy leather boots caught him in the stomach. Dark dropped to his knees, winded as Link jumped back, holding his sword at the ready, "A hero never gives in. If I have to kill you, I will."

Dark stared for a minute, a grin slowly spreading across his face. One snap of his fingers and Dark's shadow sword was in his hand. He stabbed it into the ground, leaning on it like a cane. "Well. Now I see why you're the Hero." he chuckled, even more amused at the boy's bewildered expression. "After all" Dark continued, "Its got to take some real courage for you to waltz into _my _Temple, go jerking off on my _front door_ and then you come in here and tell me that _you_ never give in? You've got balls, I'll give you that."

Again, for the third time Dark's words hit him like a punch in the stomach, though getting beaten up didn't normally make people blush. For all his strengths, the Hero of Time was horribly shy and he could feel the blood rushing up to color his face as red as Dark's eyes.

"Th… Th-that was…"

"A very un-Herolike thing to do.." Dark finished the sentence for him. "Honestly, didn't anyone ever go over the rules with you? Hero's don't do things like that. And down here in a temple of all places, Tsk tsk tsk."

Link gritted his teeth, glaring as Dark wagged his finger like he was scolding a naughty child… and Link hated it because he knew Dark was right. He'd messed up, and errant childish curiosity wasn't a luxury he could afford. But before he could try to come up with some justification for his actions, Dark lunged forward, holding his black blade waist high and slashing up.

Eyes widened in shock, Link lept to the side, escaping with a shallow cut along his ribs. Goddesses, but that boy was fast. He'd barely seen the attack coming, even with all his skill. This would not be an easy fight.

Dark frowned slightly as Link dodged the attack. He shouldn't have been able to, but then, this was the Hero of Time. Oh well. At least he'd scored the first hit, he thought to himself, bringing the blade to his lips to slowly lick off the blood, watching Link all the while with unveiled desire in his eyes. Heh. Link was blushing again. Dark loved doing that to him. Hopefully, he'd get to see that blush a few more times before this was done. With that happy thought in mind, he lunged forward again.

_'How on earth can he move like that_?' Link just couldn't understand it, Dark swung that sword like it didn't weigh anything, but every hit he parried sent a shock running up his arm. He could feel it starting to go numb. That sword was definitely real, so maybe the sword itself was nothing special and it was really the wielder who was exceptional. But… Up until they'd started fighting, Dark had been so… flippant about everything. He just didn't seem to have the patience to train enough to get this good. Link could barely hold his own against the vicious slashes and Dark didn't seem to be tiring at all. He just kept coming with that same smirk on his face.

Even though he felt completely outmatched, Link still managed to get in a few good hits. They seemed to pain Dark but his blade came away without any blood on it so he couldn't even be sure if his attacks were having any effect. He was covered in scratches and shallow cuts that made it hard to move but strangely, Dark hadn't given any major wounds, when indeed he could have. He had the skill… It almost seemed like… he was just toying around with his green clothed counterpart…

Link's eyes darted around as he searched for some way to win but the terrain lacked anything of the slightest use. The only feature at all of the room was the tree, which was too stunted and decrepit to actually do anything. Perhaps something in his pockets then… and his mind fell on the Hookshot. Maybe it might work.

Another few minutes of fighting had Link on his back in the sand beneath the tree, glaring up at his shadow. The hookshot slipped down the side of his tunic to his hand, concealed while Dark gloated over the fallen hero "That's it? Man, that was disappointing. What was it you said about not giving in to your dark side, huh? I told you, everyone does, whether they want to or not."

"I didn't" The tip of the hookshot launched out and pierced right through Darks shoulder. He stared for a second at the metal chains but before he could react, Link hit the button to retract the chain, pulling Dark forwards and impaling him on the end of the Master Sword.

"Heh… You got me…Fair is fair I guess… You can go" Dark whispered, snapping his fingers. The iron bars across the door slid up into the ceiling.

"Well… Goodbye Link. Its been fun… and good luck" Dark murmured quietly as he ripped the hook from his shoulder, flashing one last smile before falling backwards and phasing right through the water on the floor, falling into the reflection of the sky. Once he was gone, everything faded away and Link found himself sitting in an ordinary empty room with the same damp blue walls that the rest of the temple had.

The next room, as per the usual held a large treasure box with an upgraded hookshot. The longer range would get him to more distant targets, but though his body kept moving, his mind stayed behind in that room filled with fog. Dark…. Why did it have to end like that? Surely… he didn't deserve… No.

Link knew full well he had a duty to fulfill. He couldn't afford regrets. Hyrule needed him most.

Another entire day passed before Link found himself standing finally in front of the giant golden spiked padlock that secured the door to the boss of the temple. A Opening these locks was never a picnic simply due to their sheer size. It took a bit of struggling but eventually the padlock fell with a resounding clang to the floor and the door slid silently open. Back in his Zora Tunic, Link walked in and immediately felt something wrong. Looking around, the entire length of wall around the room was coated in spikes and in the center of the room sat a pool of water with four pillars in the middle. Again, like the rest of the temple, this was not normal water.

His suspicion was confirmed a moment later when the water rose up in a pillar. Link waited, watching the water pillar move, undulating like a snake watching its prey. Suddenly the water 'arm' came hurtling down on top of him. Making a quick dodge to the side, Link darted back in to slash at the things liquid body only to quickly find out that the attack had no effect; his blade simply cut right through and the indent it made healed over. Jumping back again, he barely made it away as the blue water tentacle tried to grab him. Then he saw it. Coming up the arm was a red and white ball. Maybe this would be the weak spot.

Running forward to try out the theory, Link swung at the amoeba floating through the water and was rewarded with a pained squeal from the thing. Unfortunately, getting in close enough to attack also left him in attacking range. Though he managed to strike the vitals of this creature, he wasn't able to get away as the water wrapped around his body with crushing strength, lifting him into the air and shaking him like a rabbit in the teeth of a ragged dog only to chuck the boy halfway across the room into the ring of spikes coming out of the wall. One of the spikes tore into the back of his right leg. Biting his lip and ignoring the pain as best he could, Link stood, glancing around warily and rolling to the side in the nick of time as another water arm smashed down where he'd been only a second ago. Then, two more arms swung up out of the central pit of water and the one farthest away held the swimming core.

Not wanting to get near those arms again, Link pulled out his bow and fired an arrow. As expected, the arrow pierced through the aquatic defenses to strike again at the heart… or whatever it was. Even more arms erupted out of the water, blocking Link off in a corner while his target was all the way across the room. With no other way to get there, Link ran forward, jumping onto the pillars in the middle of the pool, but as he went to jump to the second one, he felt a tendril of water wrap around his ankle in mid jump in pull him down into the watery depths. The pool itself wasn't very deep; only about ten feet or so and he saw ladders attached to the sides of the pillars, and in the Zora tunic, he could breath underwater but… being inside the thing felt so utterly disturbing. It didn't feel like water, but thicker like jelly and it was all over him, tugging from every direction. The hold was too tight for him to swim against and he hadn't seen any hookshot targets in the room, so how -

Links train of thought was interrupted as a slimy tendril of water wormed its way up past the wound in his leg to actually start pushing its way up _inside him_. Link gasped and choked as more tendrils of water forced themselves down his throat. Bringing his hands back to his right in a knee-jerk reaction whenever he was in dire trouble, he mentally recited the prayer to the Goddess, Din, to invoke her fiery wrath in an expanding dome of flames. The water didn't have any effect on the magical fire which continued to expand outwards. The core of the water beast shrieked as the merciless wall of flames rolled over its sensitive membrane. All the pressure holding Link down released and he quickly climbed his way out of the water, coughing up the water he'd swallowed.

The water in the pool began to froth and bubble angrily as tentacles shot out of the water all over the room. There was no way to get to the membrane without going through at least fifteen water arms and the thing was across the room. Not willing to jump over the pool again, Link pulled out his Longshot, and fired that instead. The hook grabbed the nucleus and ripped it out of the arm it was traveling through, dropping it on the ground at Links feet to flop around like a fish. Ripping his sword out, Link stabbed the blade down into the floor, impaling the defenseless thing and popping it like a bubble.

The water in the pool rose up one final time, draining into the ceiling until the pool was empty. Glad to finally have it over, Link climed carefully down the ladder, grabbed his heart container and stepped into the soft blue light that formed at the center of the intersection, eager to be away.

As it had the previous two times, the light teleported him to the Temple of Light where the Sage would appear and give Link a Medallion holding a portion of their power. This time, it was Ruto the Zora Princess who stood before him. Again, as usual he just stood there, keeping his mouth shut. Link had a suspicion that while they waited for the temple to be cleared, they killed time by writing their thank-you speech, so he let them have their fun.

"Link. I would have expected no less to the man I chose to be my husband. Zora's Domain and its people will eventually return to their original state. As a reward I grant my eternal love to you. Well, that's what I want to say anyways." she added when his jaw dropped open," But I don't think I can offer that now. I have to stay here and guard the Water Temple. You already have someone else anyways, don't you?" she asked, giggling. "No? Well, I'll give you one so don't be discouraged. Here, you must take this medallion. Take it respectfully."

The blue Medallion bearing the Triforce on one side and the Water Crest on the other fell down into his hands. "Oh, and if you see Sheik, please give him my thanks, ok?" Ruto added as the bright light blinded Link. A few minutes later the battered Hero found himself deposited safely on the warping platform on the island in the middle of the lake. It was nice to be able to take a few minutes to relax and see all the good his hard work had accomplished as the water lever in the lake rose back up to where it was supposed to be. Across the lake, the Fishing pond was now reachable off to the right and the old man in the marine research lab could continue his work. Looking at the research lab, Link noticed a faint blue glimmer high up in a rickety wooden observation tower atop the small laboratory. Perhaps he could get that heartpiece in a little bit.

Leaning back on the shore of the lake, Link didn't turn around as he heard footsteps behind him. "Ruto wanted to thank you." Link said, staring out over the water, but the voice that answered him was not Sheik's.

"Oh she already did, in fact that's why I'm hear" Dark whispered in Link's ear, making the boy leap back as best he could, but the sudden movement yanked a muscle in his leg the wrong way and it crumpled beneath him. It must not have fully healed. Stupid defective Heart Containers…

Dark glanced over at the ungainly form of the Hero of Time sprawled across the ground, his red eyes glittering mischievously. " Whats wrong with you? You look like you just saw-"

"Don't even go there Dark. That line is so clichéd its not even funny." Link muttered climbing to his feet and drawing his sword, callously ignoring Dark's pout.

"Now is that anyways to greet your best buddy you ever killed? And quit pointing that thing at me." Dark slapped the flat of the Master Sword with the back of his hand. Link jumped back, eyes narrowed suspiciously as all sorts of conspiracy theories about Dark coming after him for revenge started popping into his head.

"Why are you here Dark? Are… why are you being all friendly? Last time I saw you, you wanted to kill me."

"Correction." Dark interrupted, holding up one black gloved hand to indicate silence. "First off, I wanted no such thing. I never planned to kill you at all. My orders from the last boss were, verbatim, 'Defeat the Hero of Time.' Not kill; defeat, so I had a loophole. If you surrendered, I would have let you go, but noooo. _Someone_ always has to be the valiant conquering Hero. Every. Fucking. Time."

"What, me!" Link stared, dumbfounded by the accusation that the entire messy ordeal had been _his _fault. Of all the nerve! "You… You came at me with a sword! I didn't know you weren't dangerous!"

"Oh I'm very dangerous" Dark shot back blandly, "But I did ask politely first." he pointed out, leaving Link stuttering around for an answer. "Anyways, to answer your questions, I'm here because the new Boss of the temple says I'm to come with you and give you whatever you need and I'm being friendly cause I'm just a good natured kind of guy.

Link sighed and flopped down on his back, staring up at the clouds. Dealing with Dark was exhausting work and…. "Wait a minute, come with me! Hey, wait a minute! You can't come with!" He shouted at Dark's slowly retreating back as he strolled across the wooden bridges towards the mainland.

"Boss's orders and you're not the boss. Duty first, remember?" Dark shouted back over his shoulder.

Link groaned. Somehow he didn't think it would be so easy. He briefly considered asking Din to strike him down to avoid the coming headaches… but that probably would not be granted. The Three Golden Goddesses were probably laughing at him just as hard as Ruto was… and sadly, a prayer for Din to strike down Ruto for her malicious joke probably wouldn't be heeded either. Ah, cruel fate…

With a sigh, Link started jogging, albeit a little awkwardly with his leg still strained after his new…. Goddess help him, his new partner.


	2. A Terror?

_**Well... I never expected my story to become so popular so quickly. So, thank you all for your time and support and remember, please review! Your thoughts and comments really mean alot to me!**_

A Terror?

A partner… Link had no idea how to even begin comprehending this new addition, which at the moment was strolling its way down the rope bridges that connected the shore of Lake Hylia to the two small islands out in the middle of the lake. Link sat on the larger island, leaning up against the large tree that dominated most of the island alongside the grey warping platform that was meant for the temple several hundred feet below. Groaning, Link pulled his green cap off to run his fingers distractedly through his hair. " I've failed in my duties as a hero. I've unleashed a terror on the world!"

In his mind, Link could see Dark grinning maniacally as the fields of Hyrule erupted into a roaring inferno that would engulf the entire kingdom leaving naught but ash in its wake. And yet… watching Dark sitting over on the next island, [calmly sitting back] to watch the sun rise… Link couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't getting caught up in his imagination again. Either way, he'd think about it later, and with that the hero got down to find a comfortable spot on the short grassy carpet to take a long and much deserved nap.

Dark was amazed. He'd only ever known that one room in the Water Temple; the room of fog and illusions. Out here, he was finally free to see everything he'd dreamed of seeing! It felt so good to breathe fresh air and see actual light… but as much as he wanted to go running and screaming for the joy of freedom, somehow he felt that Link would not approve, which irritated Dark all the more because he also knew that maintaining some decorum, at least while Link was watching, would be in his best interest. So, with no small amount of effort he curbed his enthusiasm and sat back on his little island, marked only by a single lonely gravestone, and watched as the first few pallid rays of light peeking over the distant hills heralded the arrival of the sun.

The sun… No one else could have understood the importance of the sun, but for Dark, who'd never known anything but being in the cold, humid, and moldy chamber of the Water Temple, this was the first time he'd ever been… warm. He leaned back against the gravestone and smiled contently as a gentle breeze pushed his bangs back. This world, it was so full of new sights and experiences; things Dark had never had a chance to experience. And now, with Link sleeping, he had the opportunity.

A short wooden bridge connected the mainland to Dark's island, and then from Dark's island to Link's island. At the beginning of the bridges, a strange looking building with a watchtower looked out over the lake. The only other building sat on an island tucked off in a corner against the cliff walls. He'd need to swim there.

Finished watching the sunrise, Dark set off across the second bridge to reach the mainland. He took a few moments to admire the series of waterfalls made as the river flowed down from the cliffs into the lake before turning to the right. A wide road lead up through the mountains but Dark didn't want to stray too far away from Link, even though he'd be able to track the boy so long as he held the Water Medallion.

The isolated little building off on the island intrigued Dark and he went running off through the short clipped grass towards the shore nearest the island. Right by the shore, he stopped to investigate a small two tier field with a pair of scarecrows. Curiously, he trotted up to one, about to poke it when the scarecrow spoke, "Hey there! I am Bonooru, the scarecrow musical genius! I hear a song once and I never forget it baby!" The scarecrow leaned forward, waiting expectantly for something.

A scarecrow musician? That sounded kind of dubious, even to Dark, "Uhm… sorry, but I don't know any songs. I was just…. going over there…." Dark replied, glancing over at the island building.

"Oh. The fishing pond? I see. Well, come back if you learn any songs, baby."

Dark felt almost bad for leaving. The scarecrow did sound a little depressed when he left. Being stuck in a field all day must get lonely… It reminded him of himself, stuck for years on end in a single room, unable to do anything but wait. But those days were over, and he pushed all thought of them firmly from his mind as he dove into the water and started swimming his way across to the island. Less then a minute later, Dark was out of the water and reading the sign next to the door.

"Come on in. The fish are really biting today. Tch. What a cheesy line," Dark muttered under his breath but in he went anyways. Dark was moderately surprised to find a small pond here indoors, complete with rocks and reeds and a large fallen log out in the middle. Running forward, Dark dropped to his knees, watching the schools of fish swim lazily around the pond, fascinated. The Angler, who was watching from his counter to the right of the door, thought his new customer was just weird. "Hey. You want to rent a rod and go fishing? Only 20 Rupees."

Dark glanced up at the owner of the pond, a thin, balding man with patchy brown hair and a tacky plaid hat. Rupees? He was drawing a blank. "Uhm… sure. What're rupees?" he asked, feeling stupid. Staring at the newcomer like he was insane, the pond owner held up a single red gemstone. "Oh! I have some of those" Dark piped up happily after seeing it. He'd picked up several twenties after being released from his cell. They sparkled and looked pretty, more than enough reason for Dark to grab a few.

The Angler snatched the red rupee out of Dark's hand and went off into a long explanation of how to use a fishing rod, but Dark was soon lost in all the technical jargon. What in the names of the Three Goddesses was a Rumble pack! Still, eager to get to this "fishing" Dark nodded along like he understood everything then took his fishing rod off to go sit by a patch of reeds. 'So, I have a line with a hook to catch fish. Can't be all that hard,' Dark thought to himself, sitting on the bank of the pond. For a while, he just watched, taking note of the fish and the way they moved and interacted. He started noticing patterns, like how the smaller fish stuck towards the shallows while the larger ones were in the deeper part of the pond. Smaller fish also darted around, keeping to themselves while the larger fish stayed in more or less stationary groups of three or four.

Setting his sights on a three fish group hanging around a small underwater rock formation, Dark flicked the fishing rod and sent his line out to the other end of the pond. At first, he reeled it in quickly but as the hook came up on that rock formation he slowed down, drawing it back a little at a time and using his wrist to make small tugs on the line to make the hook squirm around. He could see the fish eyeing it hungrily but these were the cautious old fish, big and juicy from not taking chances. Still, they watched the hook slowly jerk its way by like a wounded insect until one of the fish finally snapped and lunged at the hook. Dark's lips twisted up in a grin as the fish jumped on his bait. Now it was just a matter of time and patience, giving slack then reeling it in and letting the fish exhaust itself trying to get away. The fish's attempts at escape became slow, and soon Dark was able to pull the fish out of the water, extract his hook, and carry it back to drop it on the front desk with a wet slapping sound as the fish still made his feeble attempts to get away. The Angler meanwhile was staring in slight frustration, "This fish is 19 pounds. That's… a decent catch."

Dark was off to the side of the desk and tilted his head to the side, pointing at a display tank that read "The largest fish caught in this pond weighs 17 pounds. Fisherman: The Angler."

The Angler sighed and took the tank over to the lake and released his prized catch to vacate the spot for the new largest fish ever caught in the pond. "Well kid, I suppose you want some kind of prize. Here," the Angler muttered irritably, holding out a Piece of Heart. Dark's eyebrows shot up to the top of his head. That hadn't even been that hard, and that fish was easily the smallest of the group.

Less then half an hour later, Dark trotted out of the fishing pond with a very smug smile, 100 rupees in prizes, and the new record fish at 24 pounds. Back outside, the sun was up all the way, though it was still early morning, so he dove back into the lake and swam his way over to the first building.

He dragged himself out of the water and walked up, still dripping wet to hesitantly poke his head in the front door.

Inside, it was dark and musty with an acrid smoke in the air and creepy music playing in the back ground. The walls were covered in strange looking instruments and the body parts of dead animals. As Dark looked around with a growing feeling of disgust, he saw a short old man with about half his teeth missing, misty half blind eyes and not so much a face as a sheet of pale leather pulled taut over a grinning skull. Dark almost pulled his sword, thinking the old man was a monster.

"Ho ho ho, just finish swimming, young man?" The thing -- Dark still wasn't sure if it was human -- asked, noting his wet clothes. Dark nodded warily

"Yeah. I just got back from the fishing pond. Caught a 24 pounder," He was truly making every attempt to be polite he could but the aura of the laboratory made the boy uneasy.

"Well, that's quite the impressive catch. If you can swim, you can see mine. It's down in the bottom of that tank over there, along with a little something in a box that you can keep if you can get it."

Dark, being his curious self, trotted down the length of the marine research lab to the pool at the far end. The pool was more of a rectangular opening in the floor and, though it wasn't very large, the water was too murky and deep to see the bottom. If it had been Link, he'd be having flashes of paranoia about the vague shadowy creatures that might lurk down there. It could be some abyssal holding cell for a giant demonic…

Dark didn't worry himself with such nonsense and hopped right in without a second thought. Being a creature of water himself, he didn't actually need to breathe, but he did because it felt uncomfortable not. Letting his breath out, he stopped floating and drifted down towards the bottom of the tank. Link would have been tense as a bowstring, on guard for anything. Dark simply glanced around, humming quietly til his boots hit something solid. At least, mostly solid. He didn't think you could make a tank to hold water out of wood. Spinning in a small circle, Dark's foot slipped off the wooden box he'd been standing on and a large bubble carried his startled swearing up to the surface.

So, this was the box the old man mentioned. Dark climbed down and hit the reassuring solidity of stone, then picked up the crate and grimaced as the bloated corpse of a spider floated out of the box along with a gold skull token. Dark bent down carefully to grab the token, making sure not to touch the body of the spider as it drifted slowly to the surface. The old guy sure kept some creepy stuff in his workshop…

With the stone wall to his left, Dark set off trudging slowly through the murky water. It wasn't long until he came to a wall of corroded iron bars, and what was behind those bars sucked the feeling from the boy's body.

Trapped behind the bars lay the body of a large blue and white shark, crammed into a prison far too small for it to live in. The] bloody welts across its body, the hollow sections where something had sliced it open to remove its organs, the surgical precision of the wounds, and the look of pure agony left lingering in its dead eyes attested to the suffering the beast must have endured while alive. Dark stared, horrified that someone could actually _do_ something so heartless. It made his head spin beneath the crushing weight of water soaked in death, suffocating him.

Dark paddled his way toward the surface as quickly as he could, but for some reason his body didn't want to rise. With the thought of staying down in that abyss of torture, Dark panicked for the first time in his life and with a strength born from desperation, Dark forced himself to the surface and screamed as he found himself staring right at the horribly swollen body of the spider, locked in a wooden box and left to drown down there. Slippery with the water, Dark's wet gloves almost slipped off the edge of the tank to leave him drifting back down to the bottom, but he practically threw himself out of the water. As he pushed himself to the feet, he couldn't help be look again at the grotesque decorations of the marine research laboratory, the severed head of a shark hanging from the wall, mouth open to display its teeth, or the swollen head of some poor creature Dark had never seen.

As he staggered toward the door almost delirious with the stench of the place, his eyes locked onto the last 'research subject' before the door, the corpse of a baby floating in preservation liquid, and with that, his control snapped and he dashed out the door with a scream into the comforting warmth of the early morning sun and dropped to his knees as his stomach emptied itself out onto the grass. He lay there, tears flowing freely down his face as he cried with the horror still fresh in his mind.

Dark looked up as he felt a gentle hand on his back and saw Link kneeling next to him with a worried expression. Dark threw himself into the other boy's arms, sobbing and shivering as the Hero held him tight. It felt so good to be back out in the sun again, and surprisingly it felt even better to be held like this.

"Will you be alright?" he heard Link ask hesitantly, and he nodded but tightened his grip, not ready to let go just yet.

Link had woken up from his nap and immediately realized his mistake. Dark was nowhere to be seen. Mentally kicking himself, Link started walking quickly towards the first calamity he came across. It would be safe to assume Dark was involved. After finding said calamity, _then_ he would start running. His leg was still stiff after that little tussle with the beast in the Water Temple, and remembering what all happened in that fight was not high on his priority list.

Finding Dark and ending whatever reign of mischievous terror the boy had managed to establish over the not so highly populated area of Lake Hylia was a priority. First, he'd stop by the Marine Research Lab and see if Dark was lurking around causing havoc. Already Link's mind was filling with images of Dark burning the place to the ground in a fit of maniacal laughter. "This journey is going to be horrible. I'll need to keep a close eye on him or he'll hurt someone. He's a danger to-"

At that exact minute, Dark burst out of the Marine Research Lab and dropped to his knees, vomiting all over the ground. Link couldn't help but notice that his normally pale skin was now bone white and… he was crying?

Link sighed, taking back all the bad things he'd been thinking about Dark as guilt grabbed his heart and gave it a good squeeze. He also couldn't help but wonder which of the Goddesses it was that insisted on always throwing something like this out there at the perfect moment to prove him wrong. Link pulled off his brown leather gloves and tucked them behind his belt wondering what to do. Certainly, he'd never had to deal with anything like this, and he was afraid that if he perhaps did too much, Dark might take it the wrong way… On the other hand, he knew he'd feel bad if he just stood by and watched, so Link knelt down and gently rubbed his hand over Dark's back to offer what comfort he could. He expected to get ignored or yelled at so he was a little surprised when the boy turned and buried his face in the dark green folds of Link's tunic. For a while, Link held the pale sobbing form of his dark side.

He just didn't understand it. This couldn't be the same merciless killing machine he'd fought down in the temple, Link thought as he scooped Dark up and carried him back across the bridges to the island in the center of the lake. '_For all the muscle it must take to use a sword like he does, Dark doesn't weigh much at all,' _Link thought to himself. For all he was opposed to having a partner, seeing Dark vulnerable like that, feeling the fingers clutching at his shirt, and seeing the tear stains still visible on his pale cheeks all made Link feel oddly protective of the boy in his arms.

Arriving back at the island, Link set Dark down on the grass and sat down himself, wincing as he rubbed his sore leg when he caught Dark staring at him. "Morpha do that to you?"

Correctly interpreting that as the boss of the Water Temple, Link nodded. "How did the rest of the battle go?" Dark asked curiously, slightly confused when Link started blushing.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Link shot back defensively. He didn't know what he was expecting Dark to do, but pulling a Heart Piece out of his tunic and handing it over certainly wasn't it. "Wh… where did you get this?" Link asked, staring in shock at the blue crystallized essence of life energy. After all, it wasn't like people left Heart Pieces laying around in barns for others to just waltz by and grab.

"I won it fishing while you were sleeping. Thought you might like it," Dark answered, staring out across the water. He didn't really want to make a big deal out of it, so he just shrugged it off as unimportant. Meanwhile, Link mentally kicked himself some more. While Link expected the boy to be out committing violent acts of terror and raving the countryside with an army of evil monsters in the name of the Dark Lord, he'd been fishing…

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before the ever restless Dark was on his feet and pacing around while Link opted to lay back down. Going through those temples really was rough work, and a whole day of rest after finishing one would not seem unreasonable to anyone who'd actually tackled an entire temple on their own.

"Link, what're we doing now?" Dark whined as the green-clothed boy settled down under the tree and muttered something about rest. Dark was the type that always need to be up, always needed to be _doing_ something, and yet Link wanted to just sleep the day away! It was so frustrating. Dark finally got his freedom, and he still couldn't go anywhere! Sighing, he trotted over to the other side of the island he shared with his snoozing blonde counterpart, where something sticking out of the ground caught his attention. It looked like a plaque of some sort, probably dedicated to whoever was under that gravestone on the first island or something.

But no, the small mahogany plaque read, "When water fills the Lake, shoot for the morning light."

Shoot for the morning light, huh? He could see the bow and quiver of arrows sitting half full on the ground next to Link. Since he technically was Link, too, Dark didn't feel the least bit of remorse about helping himself to the Hero's hard earned arrows. Standing in front of the low wooden pedestal for the plaque, Dark pulled an arrow back, aimed into the rising sun, and fired. Even though he'd never used a bow before, the arrow flew off just as he'd wanted... though that may have been from aiming at a target as big as the sun. Then, for some reason, it stopped and slowly drifted down to float above the water. _That _perked the boy's curiosity, and since Link was napping and he couldn't leave the area, Dark was in desperate need of entertainment. So, he stripped off his damp black tunic and laid it out in the sun to dry, along with the rest of his clothes. After living in the Water Temple, Dark wasn't as disturbed by wet clothes as Link was.

And so, the boy trotted to the edge of the island completely nude and dove into the shining water of the lake. The cool water felt amazing after the heat of the sun. Dark could already tell that he loved swimming, and he dove deeper into the water, content to stay under for hours. The current flowed over his body, and the water resisted his movements somewhat as he gained speed; it all felt so _right._ He swam along the entire length of the lake, startling several schools of fish into panicked flight. It was hard to tell how long he was down there, but when he finally surfaced again, it was well into the afternoon. He paddled around on the surface for a few minutes until he found the arrow he'd shot earlier. It had landed on a small strip of land, barely big enough to stand on, that rose only a few scant inches above the water. The arrow itself was wreathed in fire that seemed to coat the smooth shaft of the arrow without consuming it despite the water that lapped at the flames, and when Dark picked it up, the arrow didn't feel hot either.

To be on the safe side, he held the arrow aloft as he swam back to shore, eager to show his partner the discovery. When he got back, Link was awake and leaning against the tree, holding his ocarina as though he were just about to begin playing. "Link! Link, look!" Dark yelled, running up out of the water with his prize. Maybe now he'd get a little respect, but instead of encouragement Link's face turned redder then the flames coating the arrow.

"Dark! What are you doing!" he yelled, clenching his free fist. "What if someone sees! Put some clothes on!"

Dark sighed and rolled his eyes. Of course the prudish hero would notice his state of undress before a powerful new enchantment. "Yeah, Lake Hylia has an enormous population of 2. I just might start a riot like this," Dark muttered sarcastically. "Oh and by the way. What're you staring at? It couldn't be that I've got something that you don't have, could it?" he whispered, his voice dropping into an amused purr. As expected, Link's face practically caught on fire from the blood rushing to his face.

"I-Idiot! What do you mean by that!" Link asked through gritted teeth, but that only made Dark laugh and hold up the flaming arrow. The fire hadn't hurt him so far, so he kept his eyes locked on Link and ran his tongue suggestively along the shaft of the arrow, making the boy blush to the roots of his hair.

"Dark, will you _please_ put some clothes on?" Link asked, straining every syllable so it sounded like he had to force himself to be polite. Of course, Dark didn't think that was the case at all. He had to hand it to the boy though, for all his blushing Link didn't look away… nor did he ever focus on anything about Dark other then his eyes. With a shrug, he handed Link the arrow and strolled over to his pile of clothes.

As soon as Link had the arrow, he turned his back and sat down both to study it and to try and spare his modesty as much as possible, though he could still hear the rustling of cloth in the background as Dark dressed. '_No! Focus on the arrow,'_ he mentally screamed at himself over the images of the wet, naked Dark. Stupid overactive imagination… of course he could never let Dark know he was thinking about him that way… but what if he did? An idea started formulating in his mind, and Link was honestly curious what would happen if _he_ were the flirtatious one for once. Was it all an act? Would Dark back down if he thought Link would seriously go along with it? Probably. On the other hand, what if it wasn't an act? Cursing the blush spreading across his face again, Link turned all his attention towards the arrow.

Now that he was actually looking at it, the spell was quite a piece of work. His magical sense slowly analyzed the makeup of the spell, magical sense that he'd only received a short while ago. Actually, it was seven years and change, but he'd been frozen in a kind of magical incarceration while his body matured so he would be capable of being the Hero of Time. Still, the carefree days of being an ordinary eight year old kid seemed like only yesterday. Indeed to him, they were only yesterday, or at the very worst, a few months ago. Still… Link couldn't help a sigh of regret remembering how his childhood had been abruptly cut short.

"You ok?" he heard Dark ask from over his shoulder.

"Yes. This spell is just a bit tricky, but I think I can do it with some practice and use fire arrows whenever needed," he said quietly, not really wanting to talk to Dark, or anyone for that matter, about his personal insecurities. The magic Fire Arrow went into his quiver with the rest as he glanced at the setting afternoon sun. "Stay around, Dark. We leave tonight at moonrise." From somewhere behind him, Link heard a snort that sounded suspiciously like 'finally.' Sighing, he dropped back into the grass, staring up at the sky and the wispy clouds drifting along on the breeze. True, it did make him feel slothful, but the Water Temple had been the most physically draining so far. To be honest, he could have done with another day, but he knew Dark was anxious to leave, and so they would.

Finally! At least now that he had a definite time to leave, Dark could know about how long he could be out. But…. What else was there to do in the meantime? Fishing was fun, but he didn't think the Angler would like to see him again so soon after hauling in three record breaking fish in one day, and a direct command from the Goddesses themselves couldn't get him back in the research lab again. So he took a stroll along the edge of the lake, thinking, as the sun started to set and a cold wind blew across the surface of the lake. Walking slowly back towards Link, Dark stared down at the sleeping form of his other half. He looked so… at ease. Maybe Link really did need to sleep more so he wouldn't be so tense when he woke up, although Link was probably just the naturally grumpy type. Though he was anxious to get on the road, Dark settled down to take a nap himself. When Link awoke at moonrise, he woke to find Dark's arm around him; for once, he didn't mind so much..


	3. Shopping Trip

_I do not own Legend of Zelda and -insert other disclaimer stuff here-_

Thank you all for your support. Now that i'm actually doing a story, i see that reviews are very important; i look forward to everyones thoughts and will get more chapters up ASAP.

As a warrior, Link had a kind of internal clock that allowed him to wake up more or less at whatever time he desired. He'd told Dark that they would leave at moonrise and sure enough, right as the moon was coming up Link's eyes flicked open then slowly looked around for Dark. He wasn't hard to find. In fact, he was lightly snoring with his left arm slung across Link's chest. He watched the sleeping boy for several minutes trying to determine how to deal with this. He finally settled on shaking him awake.

"Come Dark, it's time for us to leave." Link didn't know why he whispered. It just seemed appropriate at night. Dark sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes. As soon as they'd gathered all their gear together they headed down the road through the mountains, for Dark, about to step into the world for the first time.

Walking down the wide dirt path that led away from the lake, Link watched in slight amusement as Dark ran out ahead, slashing at plants and chasing crickets around, trying to figure out their chirping. He ran far out ahead until he came to a large iron gate going across the entire road built into a stone wall running right alongside the cliff. Link walked right up to the short end of the wall and climbed a ladder set against the side. Dark of course was not paying attention, so Link sat, letting his legs hang off the side of the wall about ten feet above the road. Watching down over Dark hunched by the side of the road, Link couldn't help the small smile tugging at his lips. That boy…he was so confusing. Down there laughing and playing with crickets, Dark had an almost childlike innocence. It was endearing in its own way but other times…the smouldering looks and suggestive comments were anything but. Like Dark had two different personalities. A Dark Dark as it were.

A movement down below snapped the blonde out of his reverie. Dark was looking around in confusion. To him, it must look as if Link had vanished. The idea made him grin but he was feeling merciful so he flicked a pebble to get Dark's attention, then pointed to the side where the ladder was. Of course, only the lake side had a ladder so once they passed the gate Link leapt off the top of the wall, rolling as he hit the ground and using the momentum to get back to his feet all in one smooth motion. He almost felt smug knowing that he must have looked very impressive doing that, so naturally he was a bit irritated when he turned around to see Dark mimic the maneuver. Dark simply copied what Link had just showed him.

"What?" the black haired boy asked as he rolled to his feet to see Link scowling at him. The Hero said nothing as he turned around to keep walking, but Dark didn't notice as he was sightseeing again. Right beyond the gate the mountain road ended, opening onto a wide open field that stretched for miles into the distance. Far off ahead, he could see random disconnected stretches of road that might have all been connected at some point. The ground had a very shallow rise to it, almost unnoticeable in the short term but off in the distance the ground was definitely higher as it became a ridge that prevented Dark from seeing any farther.

So this was it…the world.

The sheer enormity of it all blew Dark's mind, but Link barely paid it any mind. Instead, he pulled out his Ocarina: a small, wooden, crescent-shaped instrument painted in pale blue. Link brought it to his lips, playing a soft slow song that would call his horse. Staring off into the distance, Link listened for the sound of hoof beats, also hearing Dark suppressing a yawn somewhere behind him.

They waited around by the gate for several minutes before Dark let our a groan. "Liiiink, come on. I'm _bored_," he whined, then frowned when he received no acknowledgement at all. Instead, Link was staring off at…

"There she is…" the blond whispered. He was actually smiling. Dark thought back, trying to think if he'd ever seen that before. The answer was no.

Galloping over the ridge toward the pair was a light brown horse with a white mane wearing an ornate custom-made saddle. That was Epona, Link's pride and joy. She skidded to a halt in front of him, whinnying softly as the boy laid his head on her flank, murmuring quiet encouragement to the horse. Dark just stared. The animal was interesting yes, but for some reason he felt the urge to watch it from a distance.

The urge to get moving again hit the dark haired boy like a hammer. He wanted Link up and moving, though it certainly wasn't because then the Hero wouldn't be practically flirting with his horse. That would make Dark jealous for attention. Nope, definitely not it. But….

"Uh, Link? It's nice and all but…what's it for?" Dark asked, still hesitant to approach the shaggy brown beast,. Link vaulted up into the saddle and held a hand out.

"Epona is the fastest horse in the country and one of my close friends. Riding is also much faster then walking. I'm in a hurry to get back to town to re-supply. Come."

Dark stared at the gloved hand for a minute, still hesitant. Link wanted to _ride_ that thing? He knew he really didn't have any choice but still…

Sighing, he took the hand and let Link haul him up into the saddle. It was a bit of an awkward move and Epona skittered around nervously but after some struggling they managed to get Dark up into the saddle behind Link.

"It's rather awkward riding a horse for the first time so just grip with your legs, lean forward and hold onto me."

A mischievous grin spread across Dark's face as he thought that maybe this riding thing wouldn't be so bad but clearly the other boy knew exactly what was going through his head.

"Don't even think about it," Link muttered, turning to give a flat stare that killed Dark's growing smirk and without a second thought he kicked his heels lightly into Epona's sides and the horse immediately jumped into a gallop. Startled, and suddenly worried about falling off, Dark lurched forward, wrapping his arms tightly around the boy in front of him and squeezing his eyes shut, but that only made things worse.

Without sight, Dark's other senses grew more pronounced, or at least got a greater portion of his attention. Sitting there, leaning into the dark green tunic in front of him, all Dark could see, feel, and smell was Link. All he wanted right then was Link and with the rolling motion of the horse beneath him, it was like it was pushing him forward, rubbing against the blonde. And the heat of the friction had something growing between his legs.

_No! Link said not to. C'mon…focus!_ Dark mentally screamed at himself, biting back a whine. It wasn't so much that Link would disapprove that put the boy off as much as the fact that pissing Link off could result in his getting kicked off the back of a speeding horse. Definitely not a fun way to end the day, and yet in spite of the very real danger his body refused to cooperate, and with the saddle he had no choice but to sit with his hips pressed right up against the rider. He tried bringing all the force of his mind to bear, concentrating hard on anything else he could think of, determined to force his bodies cooperation through sheer force of will.

It didn't work.

Within less then a minute he felt Link tense up, undoubtedly from whatever was jamming him in the back and Epona slowed to a halt.

"Dark. What are you doing?" came the tense growl from in front of him. Definitely not a friendly sound. His failure to maintain his self-control had Dark squirming uncomfortably in his seat.

"I- I'm sorry! Its not my fault! I'm trying not to but I really can't help it!" the boy whined, renewing his grip on Link's waist. A minute later, he'd hear a low snort as Link nudged his horse back into movement, though he wouldn't see the pale blush spreading across the Hero's face. Unlike Dark, Link was able to enforce his will over himself at least enough to stop the blush from growing. As for the hard point pressed into his back, he ignored it and it went away eventually. He almost stopped again later when he felt Dark lean forward and lay on his shoulder. Link was about to go off on him again when he realized the black-haired boy had fallen asleep.

They rode on through the night and into morning when Dark woke up, yawning and stretching and almost falling off the horse. A yelp and a frantic grab at Link's shoulders are all that saved him from and uncomfortable five foot drop. Link just sighed, patting Epona's neck as thanks for her patient long-suffering attitude in putting up with Dark.

Once back solidly in place, Dark glanced around, taking in his surroundings. They moved along with a shallow stream to the right, flowing along the base of the mountains. To the left, the plains continued to stretch farther then he could see. There was the occasional stand of trees or an odd looking plant that he wouldn't mind having the chance to explore, but if he did run off exploring he was liable to get left behind, so he sighed and tried to enjoy the scenery.

"Link, where're we going?" Dark asked as he rubbed his eyes

"I told you, I need to get some more supplies."

"No, I mean after that. Where's the next temple? What are we gonna be doing?"

Silence. Dark frowned as the minute stretched on and he received no answer, though he could feel the boy shifting in front of him.

"I…don't know."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes as Epona trotted down the river, crossing at a bridge and heading towards a set of stairs going up into the mountains. Dark stared for several minutes as Epona cantered closer. Yup, it was a set of stairs leading up into the mountains and around a corner. Link hopped to the ground and up the stairs. Dark was surprised to see an entire village tucked back in the mountains and even though the sun was still showing itself at early morning, people still milled about their business. Ahead, a well sat in front of a large windmill, slowly turning in the nonexistent breeze.

Pausing at the gates, which actually was just a wooden arch proclaiming the name "Kakariko Village," Link turned to Dark and gripped his shoulder. "I will be shopping for several hours. Since I know you're liable to get bored, feel free to look around but please try to stay out of trouble," he said, almost pleading to his black counterpart. After seeing Dark give a nod, the two turned and set off into the village.

They walked together until the first split; Link headed to the left towards a small cluster of shops while Dark continued forward.

As soon as Link was out of sight, Dark took off running up a short flight of low wide stairs to examine the well. Dark grey, slimy, weathered stone arranged in a circle. What caught Dark's eye was a ladder of rusted iron descending into the dark depths of the well. Posted right next to the well, a conveniently placed sign explained as much:

**Dark, Narrow, Scary. Well of Three Features!**

Smirking a little to himself, Dark left the well to continue exploring. He was a little curious about what could be down there but then he remembered the Marine Research Lab and wisely left it alone. Next, a set of stairs curved off to the right in a small spiral to a red brick building. _Eh, looks interesting._

In Dark's book, interesting basically was a shorter way of saying 'I want to go check it out', and so he did. The building ended up being a shooting gallery, or so he gathered from the giant bullseye hanging over the door, and as he headed inside, he didn't notice the pair of dark blue eyes watching him curiously.

Link wasn't purposely being sneaky. After all, it wasn't his fault that Dark never happened to look behind. It was a sudden impulse to follow Dark and see what he did and how he would react to a new environment. Naturally, he was a bit surprised to see his partner head straight for the shooting gallery.

The Shooting Gallery had a nice little machine off in the corner that played a cheery, yet competitive music and to the right, a large shirtless man with puffy ape-lips manned the counter. "Do you want to play a game? It's 20 rupees to play."

Dark nearly gasped. The Monkey could speak? Living proof that the Goddesses had a sense of humor!

Of course, he didn't want to be caught gaping like an idiot, but he honestly had no idea how to respond other than, "Uh…how do I play?"

Snorting, the primate pointed down to a little sign hanging from the front desk. "Uh huh, uh huh… fifteen shots, ten targets… prize for hitting them all. Please supply your own bow? Damn."

Engrossed in reading, he didn't hear the door open behind him, didn't hear Link walk in, but he did hear Link say to the shop owner, "I'd like to play," just as he heard the sound of rupees hitting the counter.

"Alright! This is a game for grown ups! You-"

"I already know the rules. Begin please."

Just the tone make Dark stop and take a second look. This person, he had the same goofy green hat as Link and the same long blonde hair, the same dark blue eyes and the same holy blade strapped to his back, but his demeanor was completely different as he drew his bow, nocked an arrow and pulled the string back against his cheek. This Link was confident, intense, focused. This Link could well be the Hero of Time, and it made Dark feel even more inadequate, especially when the first target appeared. It took the form of a giant blue rupee and Dark watched from the side as Link swung his bow to the side and released his arrow and pulling another from the quiver on his back and drawing it back almost in the time it took for his first arrow to hit.

The rupee exploded into thousands of colorful glass shards that the Hero completely ignored. He was waiting for the next target. Aim. Release. Draw. Aim. Release. Never a moment's hesitation. Ten shots fired. Ten targets hit. So, just two minutes later, the two walked out of the Shooting Gallery; Link with a new quiver and Dark with a new respect for the Hero. He watched the blond sit down on the stairs and transfer all his arrows to the new quiver.

"It's a nice quiver, it seems a shame to throw it away." Link said as he handed the old quiver to Dark who stared at it questioningly once the transfer was completed.

"You think…you could teach me to shoot like you do?"

"I suppose. We can talk about it later. Meet me in front of the well in an hour, please."

Dark agreed and returned to what he'd been doing; ambling around and observing life outside his cage. One of the stranger things he observed was a woman trying to corner a chicken, though she seemed hesitant to get too close, as though the fluffy white bird were dangerous. "Uh… Something wrong?" Dark asked when the woman jumped back away from the chicken when it took a step towards her.

"Haa! Oh…I'm sorry." The woman tucked a few loose stands of damp hair back into place. "You see, my pet Cuccoos got out of their pen, but I'm allergic so I can't pick them up and put them back."

Allergic? To a chicken? That sounded pretty ridiculous but he also couldn't help be feel bad for her, so he reached down and grabbed the chicken and held the struggling bird above his head. "Where do you want it?" Dark asked through gritted teeth. The woman gratefully pointed him in the direction of a wooden pen, showering him in thanks. He just busy focusing on keeping a hold of the thing as it squirmed and squawked and flapped its wings in a desperate attempt to escape. "Oh no you don't!" he snarled at the chicken and chucked it into the pen. As soon as it hit the ground, the bird was docile once more, pecking around the ground without a care in the world.

"Thank you very much sir, but there are still four more Cuccoos out there. I don't know what I'll do about the rest…" The woman trailed off, eyes downcast and looking very helpless. Rolling his eyes, Dark set off to find the other chickens.

Link walked out of the shop with a full stock of arrows, bombs and other paraphernalia that carried a Hero through the day. That shop done, he headed down the stairs towards the other side of town to see a different shop for more supplies. "I wonder what Dark is doing…" he wondered aloud, and oddly, his question was answered.

CUUUUUCCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"What in the name of…feathers?" Sure enough, after the ear-splitting cry, it began to rain feathers. Looking up, sure enough there was Dark gliding through the sky, hanging from the feet of a furiously flapping chicken. Jaw agape, Link just stared for a minute before sighing and continuing on towards the next shop, muttering, "don't ask, I don't want to know."

Finally Dark managed to round up all the chickens from around the village. How one of them managed to get itself inside a sealed wooden crate was beyond him. Either way, once all the chickens had been returned to the pen, Anju, which he found was the chicken lady's name, decided to reward him with a finely crafted empty glass bottle. "That's a very precious bottle. Please take good care of it."

Dark promised he would and let Anju go on her way. It wasn't quite time to meet Link yet, so he decided to check some shops on his own, and was disappointed to discover that many of the things he couldn't use. Slingshot pellets, useless without a slingshot. Bombs couldn't be safely carried without a bomb bag. He had a quiver for arrows, but no bow, though he ended up buying arrows simply because he could, and _this _store also had a back door. Interesting. He window shopped around till the man's back was turned then slipped out the door.

In the back was an enclosed fenced in area. with a short flight of stairs down and an odd-looking hole in the ground. The was also the front door of an entirely different shop. Inside this shop felt oddly familiar with acrid oddly-colored smoke, strange tribal music and the old-as-dirt shopkeeper that seemed to materialize out of the walls. Now what did it remind him of…?

Suddenly the memory of the tepid, death soaked waters of the Marine Research Laboratory flooded Dark's mind, leaving him pale and shaking as the raspy voice of the ancient crone behind the front counter spoke, "Are you alright dear? Did you come for some potion? Because you look like you could use it."

Dark would have answered but his mouth had suddenly gone dry. Tsking about young people and how they don't take good care of themselves anymore, the old woman hobbled out and handed the boy an wooden cup filled with dark red liquid. He was hesitant to drink something that looked so much like blood, but a cautious sniff told him it wasn't blood. The pungent, floral scent was unlike anything Dark had ever smelled before so he took a small sip. It tasted…surprisingly good. He stared down into the red waters for a second before downing the cup. Seconds later, tendrils of warmth spread though his body, and restored what little color his skin originally held.

"Wow…that stuff really packs a punch," Dark said with appreciation as he handed the cup back.

The old woman returned to her place behind the counter, eyeing him with a smug smile. "Would you like some to take with you? It's sixty rupees a bottle."

Ridiculously expensive, but Dark just shrugged and handed over the rupees and bottle. He didn't have the frugality of his counterpart nor the inclination to try and argue the price down. He just paid up, waved and ran outside, eager to be out in fresh air again.

Come to think of it, the other shop guy probably didn't notice Dark slip out the back door. He realized this when the back door was suddenly locked. Grumbling irritably, he glanced around. Most of the walls looked a bit high to climb and the fence had a spiked top. Not the sort of thing he fancied trying to climb over, but on further investigation he noticed a small gap in the bottom corner of the heavy wooden fence, concealed on the other side by some bushes that just might be big enough to squeeze through. It wasn't really but that didn't stop him from breaking chunks off the hole to make it bigger. After a bit of work, it was large enough to fit though, and the shrubs in front of the hole would help insure that no one noticed.

Even more conveniently, his secret little tunnel came out right by the well, and who would be sitting against the well waiting for him other then Link who was impatiently looking around, presumably for Dark.

Better yet, Link was unaware of Dark's presence, so Dark leaned himself casually up against a wall and, after stifling a chuckle, yelled , "Hey, Link! C'mon, where've you been? You kept me waiting!" Dark says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Ah, how nice it was to see the Hero jump like that, looking all bewildered. He must be wondering how he missed the very person he was watching out. Dark could see it in the Hero's eyes, the question he wanted to ask, but wouldn't. Stubborn, too stubborn by far. He'd probably never figure out that Dark managed to amaze by cheap parlor tricks…and the thought made him a little sad.

Remembering the Shooting Gallery, he knew Link possessed skills that he couldn't begin to hope to match…

"So where are we off to?" Dark asked with a false cheer, mostly to disguise the way his hand was clenched in his glove. Damn it all, he wanted to be _useful._

He also wanted to hit something out of frustration of not being useful, but that would require explaining his turbulent feelings; feelings he himself didn't fully understand and Farore forbid he get himself into _that_ mess.

Link shrugged, apparently not worried as he stood and headed towards the village gates but Dark couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't just putting on a brave face. "Sheik gave me general locations. I have already been to the Temple in the deep forest, on the high mountain and under the lake. There will still be a temple in a desert colossus and in the house of the dead."

"So…do you know where either of those are?" Dark asked after receiving no further elaboration.

"No. Perhaps Sheik could have said more but I didn't see him after the Water Temple. I wonder what happened to him…"

Dark snorted, trying to sound casual, "That's the blond guy right? Eye on his clothes, kinda hot looking?"

Link blinked, nodding slowly though he was blushing a little. It got Dark wondering if Link actually secretly liked the guy or if he would respond the same way whenever he heard Dark discussing whether someone was attractive or not.

"He didn't say anything about other temples. He said you did good, that it was you and Ruto working together, he already knew she wanted to thank him and that they'd be continuing to count on you."

Though it did help his image, he could tell Link wasn't happy, with his jaw set like that, eyeing Dark with a flat stare. " And why did you not tell me this?"

Pissing Link off…leaving the village…to go horseback riding again. Dark realized his mistake a minute too late. "You didn't ask," Dark pointed out…well, _he_ thought it was reasonably.

"That still does not give you the right to keep things from me," Link snapped. The two walked another few minutes in stony silence. Sighing, Dark realized he was doing this entirely wrong. He shouldn't be sacrificing his partner's good will just to seem more then he was. It made him feel dishonest…and he didn't like the feeling.

"Hey Link? I'm sorry. I didn't think it was important. Didn't really think about it at all so…"

"I will teach you archery if you help me improve my swordsmanship. Is that acceptable?" Link interjected. Seemed that was Link's way of accepting his apology. Typical. Of course he couldn't just say it…but then again, the Hero of Time had to be stubborn like that and honestly, Dark was grateful for whatever would keep him in his partner's good graces.

"Yup, I can do that. Together, we'll be unstoppable!" Dark shouted enthusiastically. He really wanted to enjoy it while it could because Epona was waiting at the foot of the mountains right where they'd left her.

As much as Dark didn't really like riding, it was at least tolerable with Link to hold onto, and it made conversation convenient. A few miles out into the field, he felt Link clear his throat nervously. "Dark? I was thinking…back in Kakariko Village, you said you think Sheik is attractive. Does that mean… he took his mask off for you?" Link asked, somehow managing to get it all out without a single stutter.

Dark couldn't help but grin. "Why? Is my Hero jealous?" he teased.

"N-no! I was merely curious…"

Dark could feel the boy tensing nervously. "Tch, yeah. Then why is your heart beating so fast? You like him or something? It's alright, you can tell me. You wanna know if he's cute?" Dark couldn't help teasing him. Leaning forward to rest his head on Link's shoulder only made the boy blush more and look away from the ruby eyes and amused smile.

"No, its n-not like that at all! F-for one thing, I am in no position for a relationship and-"

"I call your bluff. If it's true then look me in the eyes and say it," Dark cut in with that taunting grin.

"Stop Dark, that isn't fair!"

"Liar. You like him, just admit it," Dark purred, getting the Hero even more flustered.

"No, its not true!"

"Liar."

"No!"


	4. A Trek across the Fields

_**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything, etc.**_

Thank you all for your continuing support. I really do live for reviews; that is the entire reason i got this done so fast is i got some very nive reviews in the last chapter. Please, tell me what you think. I love to hear from you all and it keeps me motivated. Enjoy! ~

A Trek Across the Fields

After riding the rest of the day away, Epona slowed to a canter as she neared a small stand of trees that would be today's campsite. Link dropped to the ground and then offered a hand to help down his black clad doppelganger, whom he knew was still unfamiliar with the art of horseback riding. He didn't bother tethering the horse anywhere; she was better trained than that, and set about setting up a campsite right away.

"Dark, would you start collecting firewood please?" Link called over his shoulder at Dark who was wandering away. Dark's reply was indiscernible but since he started picking sticks off the ground, Link could only assume he'd agreed, so Link busied himself with getting cooking utensils out and ready to use, as well as rubbing down Epona. Along with saddlebags for Link's spare equipment, Epona also carried a bag of oats that she could eat, but out in the verdant Hyrule Field, there would be more then enough grass to sustain her.

In the distance, he could see Dark approaching with an armful of dead tree branches. The trees sat spaced far enough apart to be able to see though for some distance; out until the trees ended. As for Dark, he personally didn't see the need of firewood or a fire. To him 'Dark, go get firewood' was suspiciously close to 'Dark, go clean the forest' but since he was still worried about Link being upset with him, he didn't press the issue.

When he re-entered the clearing that would be their campsite, Dark dropped the bundle of sticks and yawned. "What's this all for anyways?"

"Just drop the firewood off…" Link trailed off, looking up to see that his partner was already way ahead of him. After another minute of staring Link just sighed, shook out his mass of blond hair and continued on. "Now, would you go stomp around in the trees? See if you can scare something this way."

Much as Dark would have liked to have argued, he was more interested to see what would happen, so he did as requested and went stomping through the woods as Link stood back and waited, bow at the ready. Startled by the noise, a group of rabbits burst out of the underbrush to run for safety, but for each one a pair of cold blue eyes locked on to it, followed by a musical _twang_ and that was the end for each of them.

Dark returned in time to see Link retrieving his final arrow from his prey. Three shots, three dead rabbits. Working on his prey with a casual air born from practice, Link missed the twinge of regret in Dark's eyes. Instead, he pulled a small knife out of each of his boots. "Come, Dark. I will teach you how to skin a rabbit."

Skin… a rabbit? Dark stared at the blond, horrified by the suggestion. "Wh-why! Why do we have to do that!" he choked out.

"They are rather difficult to eat with the fur still attached. Are you not hungry?" Link replied, trying not to look as if the answer were obvious. He knew Dark wasn't the most well educated person but still…

"Hungry? Not really…" Dark bit down on his lip, trying to think of a way to avoid mentioning the fact that he'd never actually _been_ hungry before so he wasn't exactly sure what it felt like. Sure, he knew the concept but the desire to eat had never struck him before, but thickheaded as ever, Link failed to note the hesitation.

"Well, I haven't seen you eat since I met you and you need to keep your strength up." And with that, he dragged Dark off to instruct him in the fine art of removing the skin from a dead animal. Dark was both disgusted and oddly fascinated at the same time by the time he finished his first rabbit. Link handed him the last unskinned rabbit and went over to start arranging stones in a circle and situating firewood in the middle. Then an idea occurred to him, and he went over to pick up his bow and aimed an arrow into the center of the pile of wood. He waited for several minutes, staring at the wood, then with a quick twist of his wrist, he released. The arrow shot off the bowstring to ignite in midair, striking into the wood and setting the pyre ablaze.

Dark let out a low whistle seeing the wood spontaneously combust. Honestly, he could admit to himself that he was a bit jealous, yet for some unfathomable reason, Link seemed to feel the same way. Curious.

It wasn't long before the third rabbit was skinned and hanging over the open fire with his brethren. The whole process had been disturbing and nauseating but the end result; the smell of meat cooking had Dark's mouth watering. _Goddess above, that's gotta be the best thing I…no, second best thing I ever smelled, _he corrected himself, remembering his first horse ride pressed up against Link with a smile.

"Alright Dark, they look to be about done," Link said, handing one of the skewers over to his blatantly drooling partner with a sigh. " And do try to have some-" he cut off as Dark tore into it, ripping off chunks of steaming hot meat, devouring it. Never had Dark looked so content. Never mind the hot grease running down his face and onto his tunic. Link on the other hand was the exact opposite; very slow and careful with his eating, making sure not to make a mess or get any grease on his clothes. They would inevitably get dirty on their own, so no need to help the process out.

They lay on their backs in comfortable silence for a while before Link stood and grabbed his bow. "Dark. Do you-" Link began, but as soon as Dark saw the bow in his hand, he was up and nodding enthusiastically.

_Where does he get all that energy?_ the blond wondered, shaking his head.

"Alright. Hold your bow along the grip, here. One finger out to steady your arrow. Stay relaxed; tension will do nothing to help your aim. Now, what you have to do is…"

Gritting his teeth, Dark knocked another arrow and fired again. Miss. He sighed. He'd paid attention to the explanation of how to allow for wind, arrow weight, distance trajectory and so on, but here in the practical application he was having a decidedly difficult time concentrating. Maybe it had something to do with Link standing right behind him, adjusting his stance and aim. It wouldn't be such a problem but he was _right there,_ putting his hands all over Dark's chest to get him to stand properly. And the worst part was, Link didn't even seem to notice the effect he was having on his partner. Dark finally had the Hero's hands on him and it wasn't the least bit romantic! Sighing, Dark pushed the complaints from his mind and tried focusing on his archery as much as reasonably possible.

Soon though Dark decided it was time to uphold his end of the bargain, so much as he wanted to keep practicing, he set the Fairy Bow down and drew out his shadow blade. Turning, he caught Link giving him an odd look, "What?"

Link shook his head, still looking confused, "I was just wondering where you got that from. You don't carry a sheathe around with you so where did that sword come from?"

Cocking his head to the side, Dark slowly repeated the question, trying to understand what Link was asking, "My sword? Its here when I need it, gone when I don't. That's all that matters, isn't it?" It seemed like a pretty stupid thing to be wondering about, and Dark didn't feel like trying to explain something he didn't understand. "Its like that hammer of yours. Where do you keep that?" he asked, not bothering to mask his satisfaction at the blank stare on Link's face.

"Um… Well…"

"See? They're just there and we don't understand why it works that way, just that it does. So doesn't that make sitting around thinking about it a little pointless?"

Link frowned, thinking that over for a minute before slowly nodding his head, "I suppose. It just seems odd to me." Sighing, he dismissed the thought and pulled the Master Sword; the blade of sacred steel that evil could not touch from it's sheath on his back and waited, muscles tense and ready to react to anything Dark might do.

Dark on the other hand yawned, seemingly not paying attention. His blade pointed towards the ground, held almost negligently.

Link's eyes narrowed down to slits. So Dark wasn't going to take this seriously? Clutching his blade tighter, Link darted forward, slashing in a low wide arc, but at the last minute, Dark's blade spun up, crashing into the Master Sword from the bottom and knocking the Hero off balance. Gasping, Link looked down and watched it happen in slow motion. The ebon blade swinging towards his ribs. He knew there was no way he could dodge or block it. What if this is what Dark was waiting for? The perfect opportunity to dispatch the Hero of Time, leaving no one to get in the way of the Dark Lord and his conquest of the Divine Realm.

Of course not. Dark didn't check his hand but with a twist of his wrist at the last second, it was the flat of the blade that struck across the Hero's chest. Link howled and rubbed at his stinging ribs where the heavy impact left the beginnings of a bruise across his chest. Biting down on his lip to keep from whimpering… out loud at least, Link gently prodded at his ribs. None cracked, none broken.

_But_ _Goddesses above, it burns!_

Dark stood back, watching impassively as a single of his blows brought the Hero to his knees in a fit of labored panting "You ok? Do we need to stop?"

Shaking his head fiercely, the blond lunged again.

They only battled for an hour or so, mostly because by that time Link's arms were entirely numb from blocking Dark's sword strikes. The sheer power of his attacks blew the Hero's mind. From the few surreptitious glances he snuck over the course of the time he'd been with Dark, he could tell he had the bigger muscles. Link was also slightly taller compared to the leaner form of his counterpart. As he sat there massaging his left arm and dwelling on those questions, he just couldn't help but ask.

"Dark?"

"Hmm?" came the sleepy response from over by the smoldering ashes of the fire pit. He sounded exhausted, but Link just had to know.

"I have just been wondering how you got to be so strong. You certainly don't look it."

From the other side of the fire he heard a snort, followed by Dark snickering under his breath. "Do you trust me? If you do, then you'll believe me when I say you don't want to know."

Even though the moon was covered, Link could see Dark's half lidded red eyes and teeth in the darkness, flashing that same taunting leer that he liked to wear when talking about something dirty. Sighing, Link flopped down on his back, staring up at the dark, cloudy sky through a canopy of leaves. "That does not help my curiosity," he muttered quietly to himself. Or not to himself as Dark rose, gliding silently over to the Hero.

"If you really want to know, I could show you," Dark purred into Link's ear. He heard the blonde's startled gasp, felt him tense up beneath the hot breath on the back of his neck. Link hadn't even noticed Dark move. Much as he disapproved of the uses, he had to admire Dark's physical attributes, and he told the boy as much, earning him another throaty chuckle.

"My 'Physical Attributes' huh? Yeah, they were really handy in my 'training', I guess you could say."

It was hot, a little too hot for Link, and Dark was close enough behind him to feel; it made the blond more then a little uncomfortable. Even in his current mood, Dark didn't want his partner to be uncomfortable, so he returned to his original spot on the other side of the fire pit, laying back on the ground but propped up on one elbow.

"To answer your question, it's just lots of practice. I used to practice for hours because I had nothing better to do with my time. I'd spend all day just swinging that sword around. It's good for more then just building muscle; I had time to learn the physics of it. Your style is solid and powerful, but rigid. Sometimes, you need a little flexibility. The way you move restricts the way you can attack. It makes you moves easy to predict…but then maybe that's just me." Dark yawned, noting that Link had rolled over and was staring at him. Well he deserved to have a little fun, right? "That's it really. Swing a sword around all day and at night, I jerk off," he added casually. Right on cue, Link's mouth dropped open and a second later he looked away to hide his glowing red cheeks.

"I-idiot."

"Well you did ask." Dark pointed out. "Yup, you start masturbating often enough, you'll feel it in muscles you didn't even know you had. It really is a good training technique. You should try it."

Ah, just talking about it put images in his head, images that had Dark licking his lips hungrily. Link however rolled over to face the other way, studiously ignoring Dark and trying very hard not to think about how the boy had been staring at him…like he was something to eat.

Oh…an instant later he understood why those ruby eyes had been watching him so. He _was_ something to eat…in a manner of speaking. Link crossed his arms, blushing furiously and thinking angry thoughts until he slipped off into a dreamless slumber.

Dark lay there, watching and waiting for Link to fall asleep. Once the boy's breathing evened out, Dark rose silently to his feet and approached him. Much as he would have liked to do something to the sleeping Hero, he had work to do. Instead he grabbed the bow the lay next to Link, his quiver of arrows and slipped off to the other end of the stand of trees that they'd made their camp in.

'_I will learn. I will be useful to him. I swear it.'_

Release. A second later there was the quiet thud of metal burying itself in the tree trunk. Not where he'd wanted it to be, but at least he'd hit the thing.

Draw, Aim, Release.

All on through the night Dark did nothing but fire arrows, and when he ran out, he went and collected them from the tree trunk and the surrounding ground, reloaded his quiver and started all over again.

Draw, aim, release.

He finally decided to call it quits when he stopped hitting the target from not being able to see straight and stumbled back to get some much needed rest.

The light of the early morning sun shining through the trees woke Link up, and the first thing he noticed was the heavy weight on his chest. Dark, again. Scowling, he shoved the boy off him and stalked away, still irritable from the night before. Dark however, suddenly ripped from his nap by an impact with the ground had no idea what was going on.

"Nnh, huh, whazgoinon?" Dark mumbled blearily as his disoriented senses tried to figure out what was going on as a small dust cloud drifted in front of him from his impact. There was no danger, no threats to be neutralized; just a rather irate looking Hero of Time stomping across the ground to put their equipment back into Epona's saddlebags. With another yawn and a mighty stretch that send a series of sharp cracks running down his spine, Dark rubbed the sleep from his eyes, still trying to fully wake up and determine why Link would be so mad.

"Oh, just some people's lack of respect for other people's personal space, not to mention a lack of manners, decorum and appropriate conversation subject matter," Link huffed, trying not to think of what all that entailed. Judging by the red spots glowing on his cheeks, the effort was not entirely successful.

So that's what this was all about. Link just couldn't swallow his self-righteous crap and take some good advice. Sure, Dark maybe could have been a little more tactful with his suggestion but he had ulterior motives to just trying to get the boy's clothes off. Dark just wanted for Link to be able to have some time to himself to relax. Honest.

"That's what you're mad about? Lighten up for once," Dark advised, running a hand though his hair and messing with his bangs so they didn't stick up quite so much. Despite Link's observation that Dark was just a slob, the boy did actually take at least some notice of his appearance. He liked to have his hair look nice if nothing else.

"I simply mean that I cannot condone your actions, your flagrant disregard for personal space, or common decency or-"

"Stop." One single word Dark uttered, and he was somewhat surprised when Link actually listened. "Now, close your eyes and take a deep breath."

Eyeing him somewhat suspiciously at first, Link followed the instructions.

"Now let it go. Let go of everything. Now take another deep breath…and let it go," Dark said, watching Link's chest rise and fall at his command. It made him smile to know that at least Link wasn't totally stubborn. "Feel better?"

Link opened his eyes and slowly nodded, causing Dark to nod as well, satisfied. "Good. You really do need to relax more. You push yourself too hard and if you weren't so busy getting offended you'd see that my advice actually has practical ground. Don't toss it out just yet, eh?"

The blond snorted, blushing indignantly. "You mock me. How is it that you expect me to accomplish this when just one swing of you sword shocks the feeling from my arms? Sparring with you leaves my arms practically useless, so how then am I to take your advice?" Link muttered, glaring at Dark. In truth, he was rather embarrassed to be having the discussion but his question left Dark staring, dumbfounded for several minutes.

"By the Three Golden Goddesses, I didn't know it was possible," Dark whispered incredulously. He stared at Link for several minutes in amazement before bursting out laughing, "I don't believe it! Link has a sense of humor! Who knew!"

He knew Link was glaring at him but he just couldn't help himself. The insane irony had him laughing almost uncontrollably. While Dark rolled around on the ground, clutching at his stomach because it hurt so much to breath, Link finished cleaning up. He really just wanted something to do, something to give him an excuse to ignore the immense affront that he'd just suffered to his dignity.

He'd already packed all their belongings and climbed into the saddle when Dark finally managed some composure. "If you are finished, I think we should be leaving," Link muttered icily, holding out a hand to help Dark into the saddle. Nodding and a little unsteady from the few errant chuckles still floating around in side him, he took the offered help into the saddle, only to hiss as unexpected pain shot through his hand. Wincing, he ignored it long enough to get seated and let Link get moving before gripping the horse like a vice with his legs and pulling his gloves off, then he saw why.

Beneath his gloves, Dark's fingers were cracked open and covered in flaking bits of dried blood. Frowning, he tried to think when this could have happened but only one thing came to mind. Putting the gloves back on, Dark twisted around in the saddle and pawed through the quiver hanging off the side. Sure enough, several arrow shafts bore his bloody fingerprints.

_Wow. Guess I must've been practicing harder then I thought… and after I just finished lecturing Link for pushing himself too hard. Great._

It was more his hypocritical speech that bothered Dark, albeit unknowingly but still. The throbbing ache in his fingers was next to inconsequential; only useful since it indicated that his training was indeed having at least some kind of result. True, it wasn't the desired results but still, beggars can't be choosers.

They rode along in silence for several minutes, each lost in his own thoughts when Link suddenly stiffened up and grabbed his bow and a handful of arrows. "Dark, Hang on!" was the only warning he gave before kicking his heels into the horse, sending her leaping into a gallop. The sudden jolt almost knocked Dark out of the saddle, but when he regained his balance he saw what was going on.

Link was in hot pursuit of a floating ghost-like creature with pale yellow eyes and a lantern, fleeing as fast as it could float away from the barrage of arrows. A few of the arrows managed to land lucky hits, piercing into the ghost; each one resulting in a squeal of pain, but in spite of its wounds an instant later the creature vanished, leaving behind nothing but spent arrows and an eerie cackling echoing through the field. Pulling back on the reins, Epona slowed to a halt letting Link hop down to go around pulling out his arrows where they'd stuck in the dirt. Of course, after his mad dash the arrows were scattered along quite the distance, but Link didn't mind. What he did forget however, was Dark still mounted.

_Can't be that hard, right? I can do this,_ Dark thought, somewhat nervously as he scooted forward, slipping his feet into the stirrups and taking a hold of the reins. Amazingly, nothing terrible happened…unless Epona snorting and stamping a hoof could be considered terrible. So, Dark was seated by himself…on a horse. "Now how do I work this thing?" he muttered, flicking the reins around thinking maybe it would do something.

And it did! It made the horse turn her head and stare at him. As he stared into her big, liquid brown eyes, he could just imagine her thinking _"What the hell are you doing?" _and that that is exactly what her expression said.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm new at this so um… please just bear with me?" Dark said, nervously trying to pacify the already docile horse.

She rolled her eyes and looked away, snorting _whatever._ Trying something different, Dark tried gently nudging her ribs with his heels and gasped, leaning back when she actually started moving.

"Ok, now how do I steer?" Dark murmured anxiously. Tugging on the reins didn't seem to do anything. Maybe that's how it was supposed to work, but the horse just felt like being spiteful and ignoring him.

"Please try not to kill yourself Dark," Link yelled over his shoulder, not even bothering to turn around as he plucked another arrow from the ground, brushing loose dirt off it. He sounded so unconcerned, too. Insensitive jerk.

That's what Dark thought as he turned in the saddle to Link casually collecting arrows with not a care at all for his partner who could fall and break his neck at any moment. Surprisingly, as he twisted around to look, Epona turned with him, making the boy stop and blink curiously. Leaning to the right, she followed by turning to the right also. Leaning to the left, the same thing happened. "Huh. Well that's convenient…"

"Link! There's some more over here!" Dark yelled, pointing down as he trotted around, swaying a little awkwardly in the saddle. Nodding, Link trotted over to collect his ammunition.

When he'd finished, Link stared up at Dark who was seated proudly on the horse…Link's horse, but still. He could feel a little pride over his accomplishments, right? After all, he'd managed to learn basic movement and not get knocked off. All in all, he was feeling pretty good about himself…so why was Link staring at him like that?

Oh.

"Dark, you are in the back." That's why. Of course Link would have to be the rider; having Dark holding the reins would just be asking for disaster. Still, just the way he phrased it made Dark grin suggestively.

"I'm in back huh? Sure thing, babe."

"Don't even."

Damn. Crushed again. Still, sooner or later he'd get lucky. The Goddesses wouldn't be so cruel as to have him travel as Link's partner without at least giving him a chance…right?

Sighing, Dark knew full well that was probably not the case. Sure, he was a guy and had needs of his own to be fulfilled, but he also had a sneaking suspicion that if, on the off-chance he ever got to talk to Farore, She wouldn't care a whole lot about 'his needs.'

Thinking about it would only get him depressed so he tried distracting himself. "Hey, Link? What was that thing?" Yes, he wanted a distraction but he was also honestly curious about the thing…and how Link had missed that many times with that many arrows.

"Not good," came Link's tense reply. He had a habit of being extremely uninformative when Dark was curious.

"Yeah, obviously. Are you still pissed at me or something or do you just not feel like talking?" Getting brushed off so consistently was starting to get on Dark's nerves, but Link's head snapped up and when he answered he sounded truly apologetic.

"I am sorry. I was…thinking, and I am used to traveling alone," he murmured quietly. "It was a Poe; the spirit of someone who has died but is unable to rest. I have never seen one outside of graveyards. I suspect it must be Ganondorf's doing…and it has me troubled. We may be running out of time."

Dark nodded, feeling a little depressed. 'Used to traveling alone'…it made him feel like a burden, and he was all the more frustrated because he had no way of proving his usefulness other then to sit back and wait patiently for an opportunity to present itself. Dark hated having to be patient. He'd spent…he didn't even know how long. It seemed like eons, locked in that prison cell, waiting for this boy; this green-clad fairy boy with lonely blue eyes to come and rescue him. And now, he was finally free, and yet he had to live with the knowledge that he had absolutely nothing to offer.

He worried about it a lot, and as always, it left him in despair but now this? He was worse then useless. He was a burden, a hindrance, a liability. Shivering, he lay his head against Link's back as he normally did when tired. Link would never know that this time was different. He'd never see the desperate look in Dark's eyes. He'd never feel the hopeless tears running down the back of his tunic. He'd never hear the apology Dark longed to give…only he couldn't for fear of his voice breaking, for fear of not having the right words and even if he did, he couldn't find the heart to try.

'_I'll find something. I will have something to offer him. I'll do whatever it takes. I swear it.'_ The vow echoed in Dark's mind, playing over and over as he grabbed at any idea that would make him more valuable to the Hero. _'Whatever it takes…'_


	5. What Lies Beneath

**_Authors note: Alright! Thank you all my wonderful fans who have been keeping up with this, this is what keeps me going. Also, i have a few things to say._**

**_First, as someone mentioned, Navi has been very quiet. The reason? Navi does not exist. Sorry if you like Navi for some reason, this is a sad fact of my reality; She is irritating, and therefore will not be dealt with. After all, Link had Dark, what does he need a fairy for? That is actually how i designed it. It's not so much that Navi doesn't exist but Dark is her replacement._**

What Lies Beneath

The moon hung low in the sky as Link and his partner (though Dark considered himself to be more like baggage then anything else) finally reached the southwest corner of Hyrule Field, where hopefully they'd find the next temple.

The change in scenery was sudden and drastic. They'd been riding most the day through short-cropped fields of grass and flowers with the occasional stand of trees like the one they'd taken shelter in the night before. The road split off, one path going to the right, seeming to follow a parallel route on a path higher up, while going straight would lead into a canyon. Suddenly the grass was sparse and patchy at best, giving way to a loose sandy soil in the shadows cast by the cliff above. About fifteen feet overhead, the top of the cliff was rimmed by a fence where they would be had they gone to the right. It wasn't even a cliff really, more of just a high overhang. A minute later, another path branched off to the left leading to another, drier area.

The change in terrain was easily noticeable too. Both behind and straight ahead, where the path would lead out of the low canyon and back into the main field had light green grass blowing gently in the breeze. Inside the short stretch of canyon, this loose soil covered the ground and off to the left, up the trail and farther into the canyon, the ground shifted to dry, hard packed earth. Curious, Link hopped down to examine the phenomenon. Dark watched from atop the horse…_Link's horse_. He had to correct himself as he watched the Hero kneeling in the dirt, poking at the ground. Dark sighed. He didn't see what the big deal about it was; it was just grass after all and if the local plant life wasn't trying to kill them then leave well enough alone.

Suddenly Epona snorted, looking around nervously. Frowning, Dark tightened his grip on the reins, looking around too. A few more second passed in silence and right as he relaxed again, Epona reared up, letting out a high pitched whine. Caught off guard, Dark yelled as he lost his balance and fell out of the saddle to land on his back in the dirt as Epona took off running. Link walked over, looking down curiously at Dark who stared back up, grinning sheepishly.

"What did you do to her?"

" Nothing. She just suddenly-"

Dark cut off as a pale white hand burst out of the ground right next to his head. With a startled cry, Dark rolled to his feet, narrowly avoiding the bone fingers that grabbed blindly at his head. At first it was just a hand, but as soon as Dark was out of attack range, the rest of the bleached white skeleton it belonged to rose out of the earth, leaving jagged chunks of rock sticking up. The thing had a short, squat body made entirely of bones. Its skull was overly large with a crooked jaw and eerie red flames glowing in its eye sockets.

"Stalchildren. I was right. Things are worse then I had anticipated," Link murmured uneasily as he tore his blade from its sheath. Growling, Dark readied his own blade. The Stalchild shambled forward, its movements jerky and awkward as it slashed at Dark with claw-like talons on the ends of its fingers. For something that looked like it had been dead for several years, the thing moved fast but Dark's blade was faster. A quick slash through its arm and the appendage dropped to the ground and disappeared in a burst of blue flames. His next strike was through the neck and the body dropped to the ground and disintegrated in the same magical flames that consumed all monsters at their death.

Dark turned to see Link battling with two Stalchildren of his own. He was about to run over and help with the ground before him broke open and more skeletal constructs crawled out, stumbling towards whoever was closest with a single minded determination.

"Link, behind you!" Dark screamed as three of the monsters from the group moved towards the Hero's unprotected back, but Link didn't turn around. Instead he stopped moving altogether and the Master Sword started to glow; first blue, then orange. Link waited til he was completely surrounded before releasing his technique. In a vicious swing, Link spun his entire body in a full circle, his blade letting off a shockwave of orange energy that consumed the bone creatures around him.

Not only was Link a master swordsman and a talented archer, he was also a skilled spellcaster and could combine the attributes of each, using magic to enhance not only his arrows but sword strikes as well? Dark really couldn't help but be a little envious. Link, the ever graceful Hero of Time in a supreme display of raw power had just killed off five enemies with one blow. Meanwhile Dark just hacked the things to pieces one at a time. One Stalchild raised its arm to slash at Dark when a heel kick of the boy's heavy leather boots snapped off half its ribs and an instant later its head dropped to the ground. Sighing and wiping his forehead on his sleeve, Dark saw Link turn around, having finished all the Stalchildren around him. The Hero looked at Dark, then flicked his eyes to look over the boys shoulder.

Dark snorted. As if he needed Link to tell him there was one more when the clicking sound of bone scraping against bone announced an approaching threat from behind.

Tightening his grip, Dark bared his teeth.

"You bastards…" he snarled, spinning around and dropping to one knee as a clawed hand slashed through the space where his head had been, "can leave us…" He lunged up, stabbing his blade up through the slack jawed skull of the Stalchild, piercing the black sword though to stick out the top, "the fuck alone!" He screamed, using his blade as a lever to haul the thing over his head and smash it brutally into the ground on the other side. The force shattered the skull which he stomped into tiny pieces to ensure it was dead.

"Dark…was that really necessary?" Link asked, quirking an eyebrow after witnessing the emotional outburst.

Flushing, Dark sent his blade back into whatever pocket of space-time it resided in when not in use and shrugged. " I dunno. It made me feel better. That counts for something, right?"

Link chuckled, nodding his head. "Aye, I suppose it does. I-"

But he didn't get to finish whatever he'd been about to say as once again the ground started shaking, much more violently then last time. This time, the Stalchild that emerged from the ground was giant; easily twenty feet high.

Link's eyes narrowed as he focused on the creature before him, his sacred blade thirsting to fulfill its purpose. Dark's eyes widened in panic and the last the Hero saw of him, he was dashing off down the path away from the monster. Link snarled at being so abandoned by his so-called 'partner'.

_I should have known. So he was not a traitor… merely a coward,_ Link thought in disgust as he rolled to the side to avoid a crushing fist descending on him. The force send a small wave of rocks and dirt chunks at him, but Link leapt into it, bringing the Master Sword down hard in a jump slash to cut through the gap in the wrist bones of the giant Stalchild and hopefully detach a hand. Even with all his strength behind it, Link couldn't cut through the bone and his sword, still jammed in the monster's wrist joint was yanked out of his grasp when the creature raised its arm again.

Swearing under his breath, he jumped back out of the way, pulling out his bow and shooting an arrow. As expected, it bounced off the dense bone without doing any damage. Link tried again, but this time he channeled threads of magic through the arrow he fired. It struck into the creature and released a bright ring of fire as the inscribed spell instructed it to do, but though it looked flashy, the fire arrow had little more effect than a normal arrow.

Growling, Link circled the monster as he mentally reviewed his inventory and a second later he was holding a lit bomb, just waiting for the fuse to burn down enough.

"Not yet… not yet… now!" The fuse was almost gone by the time he chucked it up at the creature. The explosion as it just about reached chest height on the Stalchild sent the thing staggering back several steps, but even that powerful blast didn't damage the creature so much as make it angry.

So that hadn't worked…gritting his teeth, Link stared his defiance up into the abysmal flames gazing at him out of skeletal eye sockets. Those were the eyes of Ganon's minions; all they knew was their purpose. Hunger.

That was when another flash of movement caught his eye. The moon cast a shadow of Dark as he leapt off the railing of the cliff above, sword bared to drive down through the colossal skull, driving it to the hilt in bone. The Stalchild reared back in actual pain, letting off a bone-chilling howl as it thrashed around, trying to dislodge the blade in its had. Dark held on, even though the violent shakes of the enraged monster lifted him bodily into the air only to smash into the harsh unyielding bone a second later.

"Link! Toss the-augh!-Hookshot!" Dark screamed while desperately holding onto the hilt of his sword that was the only thing keeping him from getting sent flying across the canyon. Link immediately complied, surprised as he was to watch his friend tossed around like a ragdoll in the jaws of an angry dog. After all, the battlefield was no place for hesitation. It was probably dangerous but Dark had to let go of his sword hilt with one hand to catch the hookshot, and even then he almost missed the thing. As soon as he had it though, he aimed and fired.

The chain rocketed out and its claws latched onto the fence that surrounded the canyon from above, but Dark didn't let go of his sword hilt. The chain of the hookshot caught, trying to retract and pull Dark away who was still attached to the giant undead monster. He stayed there, breaking into a sweat as his muscles strained to hold them both. Slowly, panting for air, he pulled his arms together.

Link stared up from the ground as understanding dawned on him. Dark was using his sword to get leverage to knock the monster over. Even then, he could see it, slowly being forced to bend backwards. Link couldn't even begin to comprehend the kind of insane strength it would take to do that. The Stalchild scrambled around, trying to move forward but with its equilibrium broken, it couldn't move at all. Inch by inch, it bent backwards, one foot going up into the air as the Hookshot struggled to retract its chain, but link by link it did, until gravity stepped in.

Dark released his grip on the blade and let the Hookshot finally carry him up to the top of the cliff as the creature toppled backwards, crashing into the ground. Link was amazed. Where he had been unable to scratch the thing, Dark had knocked this titan flat on his back. Even in such a vulnerable state, he didn't think he could vanquish it.

Back up at the top of the cliff, Dark lay on his back, catching his breath. Goddess, but his arms _ached_. He suspected the Hero would be dispatching the evil being below, so he was a bit surprised when the Master Sword flew up to land in the soft earth in front of him.

"Heh. Alright, alright, I get the message… bossy," he murmured, stuck somewhere between amusement and irritation as he pulled the blade from the grass and for the second time that night made a flying leap off a twenty foot cliff to drop down and impale an evil skeleton warrior. The sacred blade pierced through the monster's forehead much easier then his own sword had, and his own sword hasn't let off azure flames to cremate the beast. Through it twitched and writhed and howled beneath the cleansing fire, the two ignored its dying antics, too exhausted to give it any attention.

Of course the waited until the giant bone construct had finished disappearing, and it was big so the entire process took several minutes, then the two flopped down next to each other. While Link could have called Epona, the Hylian nights were warm and his tunic and the exertion of fighting monsters was more then enough to keep the both of them warm.

Thinking back on it, Link felt bad for doubting his partner, but then again, he also had no guarantee that Dark hadn't started running and changed his mind half way though. Honestly, Link still had his doubts and he wanted to be certain he could trust his shadow, so he asked, "That was your plan from the beginning? Why did you not tell me?"

Dark rolled over to face Link, propping himself up on an elbow. "Not a whole lot of time for stuff like that in the heat of battle. I guess it was just a…spur of the moment thing. You thought I threw you to the dogs, didn't you?"

Link couldn't deny it. That _is_ what he'd thought after all, and he didn't lie. "Yes. I thought you had abandoned me. To put it bluntly, sometimes I still worry that you might. What proof do I have that you won't?" Link asked quietly. Perhaps it wasn't the nicest thing to do, but Link liked to speak his mind. If he couldn't be honest with his own shadow, he couldn't be honest with anyone. Not to mention that Dark at least deserved the opportunity to defend himself against Link's doubts about his loyalty.

Dark stared impassively as he answered, his voice low and intense " I will not leave you. Ever. I made myself a promise, and now I make it to you. I'll stay with you, follow you wherever you go and whenever you need me, I'll be there. I admire you more then anyone else and I want be useful. I want to be worth something to you, to prove that I can help…that I'm not just a burden to you and I'll do whatever it takes to make that happen. I swear it."

Link was speechless. Dark had always seemed so…emotionally shallow. He had his bipolar moments but most the time he had this peppy, happy, devil-may-care attitude. It was endearing in its own way, and now those dark red eyes, normally sparkling with his childish grin held depths that Link had no idea even existed, eyes that now stared at him, boring into his soul with a smoldering intensity. He'd never seen this side of Dark before…and now he knew there was so much more to the boy then he'd ever imagined.

He felt like a burden? Link could barely comprehend how that was even remotely possible. He'd never seen anyone with such ferocious strength. When Dark fought, he fought with a brutality that left Link stunned. He knew that when he and Dark sparred, that the shadow held back…a lot. Honestly it made him a little jealous. Sure Link was strong and brave, but all his powers were given to him by others, whether it was a fairy, or a sage or the Goddess Farore herself, and it never left Link's mind that he was fighting on the borrowed strength of others. When he looked at Dark, he knew that all his strength was the result of his own time, and his own effort, bought at the price of his own blood, sweat and tears. Dark's strength belonged to no one but himself, and it was that that Link admired.

The black-haired swordsman waited for Link to say something even though breathing was uncomfortable. He'd actually been serious for once and that pensive look on Link's face was driving him crazy. Dark went through all the effort of overcoming not only his social inhibitions, but it also hurt to breath so he could make this long declaration of eternal friendship and Link had nothing to say! _'What are you thinking!'_ He was just dying to find out, but all the blond did was take out his Ocarina and call for the horse.

The tension was killing him! Dark was the kind of person who could not deal with unanswered questions. Link had to have something to say, right? Did he not think Dark was being serious? Was he happy? Was he upset? Did he not know what to say? If that was the case and Dark asked, it'd end up being very awkward but he just had to know…

"Uhm… Link?" he began hesitantly.

"Take off your tunic," Link said, head cocked for the sound of hoofbeats approaching.

What! Dark's jaw practically dropped to the ground, "E-excuse me?" Dark shook his head, still a little dazed. Surely he couldn't mean…

"Take off your tunic," the blond repeated patiently.

Dark tried to keep the euphoric look off his face but in his mind he was practically screaming his triumph. _Sex! Yes! Finally!_

"Don't get your hopes up," Link muttered, standing to go rummaging through Epona's saddlebags when she trotted up.

_Shit, I didn't say that out loud, did I! _Somehow he was so out of it he couldn't even remember if he was speaking out loud or not. That couldn't be good. Damn, but that would be embarrassing if he did say it out loud.

Biting down on his lip as he tried to remember for sure, Dark dropped his heavy leather belt to the ground and pulled his black tunic over his head to drop in a heap on the ground.

"Lay down." Link ordered and Dark obeyed before he even thought about it.

_Wow…maybe I am getting sex…and this means… _He gaped as the sudden thought occurred to him.

_This means Link is on top! Damn, but I never would have guessed it would happen like this. Who knew he'd take being in charge so well?_

Dark's thoughts raced as Link walked towards him with a small bottle of…something green. He felt his pulse quicken further when Link popped the top off the bottle and smeared the green salve on two fingers.

_Hmph. No romance or anything. He's just straight to business isn't he? Oh well. I guess beggars can't be choosers._

It turned out to be nothing at all like Dark imagined though as Link sat down next to the shirtless boy, gently rubbing the green paste onto his chest. Slightly confused, Dark looked down and frowned. His entire upper torso was covered in a mass of splotchy yellowing bruises. By the next day, his pale frame would be practically purple. No wonder breathing hurt…

Dark laid his head back and sighed. He wondered how Grandmaster Swordsman Link managed to keep his hands so soft. And he was being so careful about it too, his hands ghosted along, spreading the salve along Dark's bruised ribs. It felt nice, yeah but he'd imagined Link putting those fingers somewhere else entirely. The thought made him blush…

"Wh-what is that stuff?" Dark asked hazily, biting back a moan. Those hands felt so nice…maybe Link would just shrug it off?

"It is a salve for bruises. It seems as though that is all you took away from that fight. No bones are broken and you managed to avoid getting any notable cuts or scrapes. You were…quite impressive. I wish I had that kind of skill," Link murmured wistfully.

Wait, what? Dark couldn't believe what he was hearing. Link liked _his strength? No way._

"_I dunno why. I'm nothing compared to you," Dark whispered uneasily. This was not the sort of thing he felt comfortable discussing…but on the other hand, there might not be another time. Link might not ever open up again…_

_Link frowned. He wanted to see exactly where Dark's point of view was coming from that he could possibly see himself as inferior. After all, Link couldn't last more then an hour in a match with his shadow. Link, who fought for days on end in temples, pushing his body to its absolute limit on a regular basis, couldn't handle a fight with Dark. "Explain…I do not…understand why you think that."_

_Really? Was Link mocking him? Probably not. That really didn't seem like the sort of thing he'd do, but the question was just ridiculous enough that he had to consider the possibility. "What do you mean you don't understand. Just look at you! You're Link, Hero of Time, savior of the entire country! I mean, not only are you strong and courageous, not to mention drop dead sexy, you're also incredibly talented at everything you do. You're a master swordsman, a talented archer, a mage, a musician, you can ride a horse…and not only that, you can use magic with your sword, shoot arrows from horseback, use magic with your arrows, use magic arrows from horseback… while juggling! Need I go on? Compared to all that, I'm… pretty pathet-nnn, that's not fair." _

_Dark sighed breathily, cut off with a moan. Link had gotten tired of listening to Dark's self-degradation and in a moment of spite decided to silence the boy by stroking a slick finger across one of Dark's nipples, pulling a surprised gasp from the boy. _

"_I do not want to hear that kind of talk. All I am is a puppet dancing on a string. My strength…is not my own. True, it is needed for me to fulfill my duty but still…how hard do you think it is to stand in front of a fountain, play a song and have a fairy hand your powers to you? As for the sword and bow…I never had to learn." _

_Link sighed, trying to think how to explain the phenomenon. "I…just instinctively knew how to use them…like I'd done it before in some past life or something. Being the Hero of Time, I suppose it's not inconceivable. Still, it's a sacrifice that has to be made. I just worry that I'm still not…ready to be the Hero on my own. I don't know if I ever will be."_

_It was strange for Link to talk about it…making him feel even more self-conscious then usual. His self doubt was internalized, not meant to be spoken aloud, and yet here he was doing it… and stranger yet, he didn't even know why. Something inside him just needed to get it out, so, forcing his apprehension down, he continued, though a little shaky with his explanation._

"_Then, I see you, and all you've done is practice and train and hone your skills. I watch you fight and see you do things I could never manage. I wish…I were strong like that." Link sighed wistfully while Dark sighed morosely. He'd had no idea that Link had thought things out so clearly. Here he was thinking that his point of view was correct but what he'd just heard made a whole lot of sense. It was the sort of feelings he could relate to since he himself was faced with the same kind of doubts. He felt so stupid to have assumptions like that. He should know better…_

"_I'm sorry," Dark whispered, reaching up to brush his bangs out of the way. " I had no idea you felt like that. To me, you always seem so confident, so sure of yourself…well, unless I bring up sex," Dark added with a chuckle._

"_That…is just one more thing I am not prepared to handle," Link muttered defensively._

"_Oh? You seemed to handle yourself well enough back in the Water Temple…though you are a bit loud, you know that?" Dark shot back. He knew it wasn't really the appropriate time to bring such a thing up, but he had to change the subject. Seeing Link so down about himself was tearing holes in Dark's heart. He felt it was his duty to haul his Hero out of depression by any means necessary._

"_Th-that… I-I was…c-c-curious," Link stammered, mentally cursing how easily the blood coursed to his face._

_Just the way he said it made Dark stop and analyze that statement. "Curious? You mean like that was your first time?" he asked incredulously as the blond gave an abashed nod. _

_Dark whistled, running a hand through his tangled mess of hair, trying to comprehend that. "How? How on earth did you make it this far without like… going insane?" Being the shallow person that he was and his heavy reliance on that kind of stimulation, Dark was well and truly puzzled._

"_Tell me something Dark. How old do you think I am?"_

_How old? Now he was really confused. He didn't see how this could make a difference, but to see where the answer would lead him, he sized up the other boy and made his guess. "I'd say… probably seventeen or eighteen. But…why?"_

_Link shook his head. "Eighteen is the literal age of this body, but as for me? I am only eleven years old. Does that explain it?"_

_Eleven! Dark shot bolt upright, or at least he would have if Link hadn't grabbed his shoulders and pinned him back down into the dirt. The sudden force on his ribs aggravating his bruises made him wince. But jeez… he'd been flirting with a little kid this entire time! Again, Dark found himself struggling to grasp all the implications of the situation. So…Link had gone from being a prepubescent kid whose balls hadn't even dropped yet, to suddenly being a in a full grown adult body? That was like…super-puberty. Dark cringed at the very thought of having to go through that._

_Link interpreted this cringe as pain from his injuries. Since he'd finished applying all the salve he had across the bruised expanse of Dark's torso, Link cracked his shoulders as he stood up. "Well…I think that is all for now. We will just remain here 'til morning. Good night Dark. Get some rest."_

_With that, Link went about finishing up some last minute errands, leaving the shirtless Dark to get as comfortable as reasonably possibly on the uneven path. Though he was tired, Link dutifully brushed his horse, salvaged his ammunition and put his weapons away before laying down. He'd assumed that during all that that Dark would have fallen asleep by then so he was a little surprised when he felt something moving over his waist. Of course, it was only Dark crawling over to cuddle up next to his blue eyed Hero. _

_Link rolled his eyes but didn't do anything to stop it. After all, he figured that Dark was at least honorable enough to not try to molest him in his sleep after learning that Link was still only a child. Indeed, that was the last thing on Dark's mind. He had something else he wanted to say._

"_Hey Link?"_

"_Hmm?"_

"_You know…for a little kid, you sure use some stuffy language."_


	6. Storming the Fortress Part One

_Authors note. Hello people. Just thought i'd point out a few things. One. I sadly don't own this game or anything involved with it. Two, yeah if you notice i messed with a few small things like the location of the tent. I just mess with the little details to make it flow better so don't mind that. Oh, and three. You'll notice this is part one. Turns out, this chapter was going to be much longer then i'd anticipated,so to keep the same general chapter length througout, i'm splitting it in half. I'll get the other half done ASAP. In the mean time, R&R while you R&R and thanks for sticking with me ~_

Storming the Fortress (Part 1)

Because of what had happened during the night, the cautious part of Link's mind told him it was possible more Stalchildren could pop up, so while he did sleep, he slept lightly, subconsciously listening for any sounds of danger. However, having been brutally slaughtered at the hands of the magic swordsman and his shadowy counterpart, the magically resurrected skeletons did not return. That didn't keep Link from expecting it. His sleeping form was still tense, knowing it was in danger, so when he detected movement Link was already instantly in alert mode and reaching for his sword to combat whatever hideous fiend was coming to ambush him.

Sadly though, there was no hideous fiend, magically constructed monster or anything of the sort. No, what had triggered his sudden rapid awake was Dark, (who'd adamantly insisted on sleeping with and/or on the Hero,) rolling around in his sleep. Now Link was awake and panting from the false monster attack while Dark was still sleeping and lightly snoring at that. Yes, Dark definitely wasn't a light sleeper. This was further demonstrated as Link slid out from under the boy's loose one-armed embrace without rousing him. The shadow continued snoring away, even going so far as to drool a little.

Link stared for a minute, thinking. Since he was already up, he wanted to eat and get moving and his first instinct was to kick Dark awake. Not a hard kick, just nudge him a bit, but Dark was still shirtless and the giant mass of bruises he'd sustained the night before in his valiant slaying of a colossal undead skeleton had turned a large portion of his chest and stomach nearly purple. As frustrating as it was dealing with Dark, he'd still more then earned his keep, holding on in spite of being smashed again and again against the unforgiving bone creature like a boat in a hailstorm. That killed the notion of kicking right where it stood, for Link was not the vengeful type.

Besides, he was reluctant to hold onto his first impressions of Dark after their first opportunity to actually have any sort of "bond." He'd learned things that made him question who Dark really was as a person. It made him wonder, not for the first time of the black-haired boy sleeping at his feet wasn't just putting on a show to keep Link from worrying about him. The blond hugged his knees to his chest with a sigh. Why did Dark have to be so complicated? It almost had Link wishing for the days when he still thought of Dark as a shallow, one-track mind pervert. That was it though. He wouldn't wish for the days when Dark was an enemy. Much as it was easier traveling alone, having a companion was nice in its own way. After all, sometimes Dark would do something sweet or endearing seemingly just to throw the Hero off balance.

_There is more to him then meets the eye,_ Link reflected pensively. He shut his eyes to take a deep breath and when he opened them again, he was staring into the shadowy depths of Dark's crimson eyes. Funny…Dark wasn't really a morning person, but he didn't seem like he'd just woken up in that instant…

"What? You were staring at me weren't you? You like what you see?" Dark asked, flashing that taunting grin of his.

"The sun is up. We should keep moving," Link said, completely ignoring the question, all business once again, striding off to find his horse and get some breakfast.

"You do, don't you? That's why you didn't answer me! Well you better not like what you see, cause if you like seeing me all banged up like this then that makes you a sadist! You hear me! A sadist!" Dark yelled playfully at the retreating Hero's back as he sat up, crossing his legs. He didn't expect Link to turn around and come back over.

He crouched down next to Dark, looking down the bruised torso of his partner with a worried expression.

"Does it still hurt?" Link asked quietly, gently tracing his fingers down Dark's chest. His quiet, submissive voice and worried gaze had Dark just itching to play it off and try to impress he blond, so he grinned and just shrugged it off.

"Nah. I never really felt it to begin with so it's fine."

That was a lie. In truth, Dark ached all over from the massive strain he'd put himself under. But it wasn't as though he'd spent the entire night being beaten around by giant skeletons or anything like that. But of course pride and the desire to impress the object of his affection forbid him from saying so. Link's fingers stopped about halfway down Dark's chest. He curled back one finger and flicked into the bruised flesh.

Link had been acting so gentle and so worried so the sudden burst of pain had Dark practically howling as he slapped the blond's hand away to rub at the afflicted area, desperate for some kind of alleviation. "What the hell was that for! I knew it, you are a sadist!" he whined, mostly in self pity as he clambered to his feet to go pick up his tunic off the ground.

Though he kept his tone offhand, Link was watching intently for a reaction. "I was merely testing something. It makes me wonder just how much pain you are actually hiding from me beneath that smile of yours."

Dark froze, if only for an instant and when he turned back around with tunic in hand, he looked decidedly irate. "Hiding? What do I need to hide any pain for when you just waltz up and inflict it on me yourself! And after all the work I do, I get no kiss and no thank-yous, no nothing. You'd think you people had never heard of gratitude before," he grumbled, pulling his tunic on but even as he tried he realized that his attempt to change the subject sounded half-hearted.

For breakfast, they had strips of dried beef and while Dark did enjoy the food, he found himself thinking wistfully of the hot, juicy rabbit all covered in grease and deliciousness. That in turn made him feel guilty, for in order to enjoy the delicacy, they would not only need to end some poor critter's life, but go through the work of removing its skin. Dark remembered his lessons in skinning with a sigh. He truly felt horrible about doing that to the rabbit and the entire time while Link had been instructing him in the fine art of skinning, Dark had a few errant tears welling in his eyes the entire time.

He sighed, tearing into the dried beef strip trying to decide whether he could justify asking Link to go kill more animals for him…maybe he'd ask later. They did need to get moving, after all. And cooking, while amazing, was also time consuming and time was a luxury they did not have to waste. When Link brought the horse over, he insisted that Dark ride alone that day, which was also strange. Maybe he felt bad about the injuries…

Link walked alongside of Epona as they trotted up the trail. Up out of the shadow of the cliff, the earth was parched and cracked underfoot. Natural stone archways bridged the two sides of the cliffs edging the path, though some had broken of over the years and fallen, leaving the path through the gorge littered with boulders. It was a somewhat slow walk but at least the path was more or less straight and not going uphill, which would have exhausted Epona fairly quickly.

As it was, they made it through the rock corridor fairly quickly, or at least to a spot where it widened out a bit more. There was a slight incline with a pool full of water running down out of a hole in the right side of the cliff, which would have made it hard to cross had it not been for the narrow wooden bridge across. It wasn't even a bridge; just half a log placed over the pool so one could walk up it and get to the higher end.

Up on the ridge across the pool, the road opened onto a larger plateau, though still visibly enclosed by rock walls. The area was roughly circular and would have been a nice place to go jogging had it not been for the deep chasm that split the plateau neatly in two. Off to the right a tent indicated that someone might be living here, and perhaps he would know what happened to the bridge, which, as they approached, Link noted the absence of. The path lead straight up to the ravine, dropped off into it and picked up on the other side. Link jogged over to the cliff and peered down over the edge. It looked like a fairly long drop down into a river below that would probably feed out into Lake Hylia.

A ways down the ravine, Link also spotted with some curiosity a ledge, jutting mysteriously out of the side of the cliff with a single abnormally round boulder resting on it. How did that manage to happen? The ledge was only barely bigger then the boulder itself. Curious.

"Don't fall in," he heard Dark chide from somewhere behind him. Link couldn't help but snort and roll his eyes at that. He wasn't _that_ clumsy after all. Standing, Link headed for the tent, as Dark hopped down and followed.

The first thing Link saw as he ducked into the tent was the image of the Triforce, proudly displayed against the back wall. It put him at ease, knowing that these would be righteous, upstanding people. The very next things he saw was a pair of yellow bunny ears atop a man in a white running suit.

Familiarity stirred in Link's mind as he saw the Bunny Hood. He remembered selling that exact same hood to the exact same guy all those years ago. "I cannot believe you still have that thing," Link murmured, slightly impressed. It wasn't as though a Bunny Hood were the sort of respectable hat a person would want to hang on to but here it was, slightly faded and still in the possession of the postman. The memory, the nostalgia had him back in a different time, a time when he had chased after the postman for hours, trying to catch the famous running man;

A tap on his shoulder snapped him back to the present.

"Link, we have work to do," Dark hissed in his ear, breaking the blond out of his reverie. The other person in the tent, a large balding man, was watching them warily.

"What do you want?" the man asked gruffly, clearly suspicious of outsiders. It was understandable, considering the times they lived in.

Dark gave a casual shrug and pointed at Link. "I'unno. Ask him. I'm just along for the ride." Somehow or another Dark managed not to succumb to the urge to tack on something suggestive at the end which would undoubtedly have made the blond blush horribly. It might interfere with their "mission" though, so publicly embarrassing the Hero of Time would have to wait.

Link's head snapped up as he looked to Dark, completely lost.

"What we're doing here?" Dark supplied helpfully.

"Ah, yes. We were wondering if you know what happened to the bridge and if it will be fixed anytime soon."

"Haaa! I am a master carpenter, and I want to repair the bridge, but all my workers ran off to join that band of thieves, the Gerudo. They said being carpenters wasn't cool enough, so they all ran off to become thieves! I wonder what my boys are doing right now. I hear that the Gerudo is an all-female band…"

"I see. I will cross then and if I see your carpenters I will tell them you are looking for them. In exchange, however, will you let my friend stay here? He is injured and in no condition to travel."

Dark's heart gave a happy little flutter. Link had just publicly acknowledged them friends? This was definite progress! Sure, Dark already knew they were friends, but they'd never verbalized it before. Dark had a friend. It was just a nice thing to hear… so nice that he almost missed what came after that. That part was a problem.

"Huh! What the hell is this? You're not leaving me behind!" Dark growled, suddenly angry. How could Link go and pull a stunt like this? Knocking him off guard so he'd want to stay behind and let Link just take a casual stroll into danger while he sat back and took a nap? No way in hell.

"Peace, Dark. You're in no shape to be fighting. Just relax for a while. You've earned it," Link replied, trying to pacify the angry Dark. When he didn't say anything for several minutes, Link trudged out into the arid mountain heat again but Dark followed.

"No! You're just trying to get rid of me, and I won't have it! There's no way I'm letting you get into trouble if I'm not there to bail you out. I'm coming with!" Dark yelled, daring Link to try challenging him on it.

Rather then be drawn into an argument though, Link just sighed, scrubbing a hand thought his thick golden hair. "Dark, why are you being so difficult? I am only looking out for your well being. I do not want to see you get hurt and believe it or not, I did manage quite well on my own. I am not defenseless Dark," the blond added with a frown.

How could he not see how _important_ this was, and after Dark had gone to such lengths to explain exactly why just the night before. Was Link really that insensitive? The casual way he just brushed it off as unimportant made Dark absolutely furious. Just who did Link think he was anyways, the Goddess-Blessed Hero of Time?

Okay, fine, maybe he was. But that still didn't give him any right to just go around and make all the decisions without so much as consulting his partner, especially about said partner's doings.

Link walked down to stand on the edge of the cliff, facing the path on the other side when Dark grabbed his wrist. "Weren't you listening to me last night? I meant what I said. I won't leave you for anything. You may think that just because you're the Hero of Time that you have to do everything yourself, well you're wrong!"

Link sighed, turning to stare into the fiery depths of Dark's eyes. He saw nothing but sincerity in those ruby pools and that's why it hurt all the more, because he really did know how important this was. He knew Dark was willing to do anything for him, and to Link, that fact was the most terrifying of them all. "Listen Dark…there are people out there counting on me. I have a duty to fulfill and I am the only on that can do this. I am the one the Goddesses meant to protect this land and everyone in it. That includes you Dark, and that is why you are staying here."

"Yeah, everyone else out there is relying on you. Remember what you told me? You're just a kid! You shouldn't have to carry all that weight by yourself…and that's why I have to be there to protect you because no one else will!" By this time, Dark couldn't even look Link in the eye anymore, instead bowing his head to use the black curtain of his bangs to hide the tears of frustration running down his face. Still, Link could see the wet spots in the dirt where they'd fallen.

Ruthlessly and without mercy, Link crushed his feelings of guilt, whispering a quiet apology, "I'm sorry Dark. I just…can't." Without any other explanation the chain of the Longshot hooked into a wooden post on the other side of the ravine, dragging the Hero across to continue down the path. Dark watched every step he took, but the Hero never once looked back.

As Link walked down the path, he could feel Dark's eyes on him, watching. It made every step feel heavier but he wouldn't turn back, he wouldn't give Dark false hope that anything or anyone could come before his mission, and if that promise had been true, he'd be forgiven…he hoped. And even if he wasn't, it wouldn't change anything. He'd still have a world to save and nothing could be allowed to get in the way of that.

Once he was safely around the corner, Link slumped against the wall suddenly exhausted. He felt horrible about tossing Dark to the dogs like that but he didn't really have any other choice. Sighing, Link pulled himself together and kept walking. At least navigating wasn't hard. While the natural stone corridor did twist and turn, there was only ever one way to go. After only a few more short sections of passage, the wall to the right suddenly split open, the gap having a full set of stairs going up to what it was probably safe to assume was the Gerudo Fortress; a giant building of sand-colored stone that somehow all seemed to be one piece, as though it were actually carved from the cliff side.

He stared up at the giant sandstone fortress for several minutes, trying to get some kind of idea of the layout from the placement of windows, but when he heard foorsteps crunching in the sand at the top of the stairs, he ducked back behind the rock wall that extended all the way back to the ravine with a few turns along the way. Fortunately the guard didn't go down the stairs but just kept walking as the footsteps faded away. .

_One thing is for sure. A change of clothes is in order. I would hate to be spotted because of my outfit, _Link thought to himself as he pulled the forest green tunic over his head in favor of the dark red of the Goron. Hopefully it would blend in more then his Kokiri tunic.

Once he was fully clothed in the less conspicuous red tunic, Link darted across the gap and kept going since it didn't seem like a wise idea to try the front door. It was only a short stretch after that before the rock wall on the right ended entirely. Staying cautious, Link got down on the ground and poked his head around the corner. The low hill led up to the far side of the fortress that was pressed up against the cliff and a door sat straight ahead. Slowly, he crawled around the corner to get a better look.

Turns out, it wasn't one guard, but three nearly identical women with dark red hair, dark skin and _very_ skimpy outfits of filmy purple fabric that were practically _see-through_. Already he found himself thinking about Dark but that was mostly because he was the one who always made Link blush like that.

He had to wait for several minutes for all three guards to be facing away at the same time but when his chance came he darted across the gap and into the fortress. Inside, the arid heat suddenly dissipated, replaced by a odd chilly presence, as though some kind of malevolent being was somewhere, watching the intruder…

Link felt these invisible eyes on him as he walked down the hallway, taking slow tentative steps to muffle the sound of his boots ringing on the cool flagstones. Down he sidled through the empty hall to peer around another corner that opened out into a larger room. The furnishings here were sparse and practical; A wooden crate at in a corner and a few long handled spears hung from the walls. crossed to look decorative but sharp enough to use in real combat but the most noticeable thing was a jailcell set prominently along the left wall of the room and in it sat a single occupant peering hopefully through the bars at Link.

"Hey you! Boy! Over here!" the carpenter whispered loudly.

Link rolled his eyes and gave up on stealth. _Way to blow my cover, _he thought as he tried not to glare at the man for his lack of foresight.

"I don't know where you come from but you must have a lot of guts to make it past all the guards around here. We snuck in here to join their all-female band but they locked us up just because we're men. If you can get us out, we'll be sure to repay the favor somehow!"

Link remembered these carpenter guys. They were the same ones who worked on what would eventually be the shooting gallery in Kakariko Village seven years ago. As he recalled, they'd been lazy slobs back then and apparently not much had changed. The carpenter glanced around nervously but still didn't bother to keep his voice down. Link sighed, just waiting to be attacked. It was probably unavoidable so he pulled his sword and waited in mild irritation.

"But be careful! There're sure to be Gerudo guards somewhere...around...here...woo! Watch out!"

Link spun around as right on cue a Gerudo dropped from the ceiling and landed with twin scimitars in hand, ready for battle.

Again the Hero felt himself blushing from the various states of undress the Gerudo women liked to walk around in. Her entire stomach was uncovered and a pair of white pants flared out at her legs while going up to cling to her hips…to which was attached a single key.

The Gerudo caught him staring and raised her eyebrows with a seductive cat-like smile before lunging forward. Link certainly had _not _been staring. He was noting the location of the key which just so happened to be inconveniently located by a large patch of exposed flesh on an incredibly tan, toned body that would have any normal guy drooling over himself.

Link however was not some normal guy so the Gerudo's charm had not effect upon him. This wasn't so much because as the Hero of Time he was resistant to all kinds of dark magic (which a woman's body may or may not qualify as.) Rather, it had more to do with the fact that mentally he was still a pre-teen at best and he had no desire to fall for something that was so _obviously_ a trap.

Well…maybe not obvious, since all four carpenters had fallen for it.

He saw the slash coming down at him and parried but it was only a quick jump back that saved him from a slash across the ribs by her other sword. Link mentally kicked himself for forgetting about her other weapon as he stayed back, watching her movements. The Gerudo warrior circled around to the side, each step sinuous and carrying the lethal grace of a trained fighter. He had only an instant to react as she tensed up and jumped at him, spinning in a midair slash that would go around any guard he tried to make. Again, a jump back was all that saved him and as soon as he was safe from the spin attack, he lunged, slashing at her ankles, but with her two swords it wasn't hard for the woman to block and counter nearly simultaneously. It was only his innate paranoia that kept the scimitar blade from slicing along his cheek.

Link was already panting form having three near-injury experiences but the warrior watching him passively from behind a veil was just as calm and composed as ever. With two swords to his one, she could attack, defend and counter attack with twice the speed that he could. Her weapons were lighter, and so was her body but they all had the same lack of strength that Link possessed…but then, being light on her feet, Link knew it would be hard to get the Gerudo into a situation where he'd be able to use his strength to his advantage.

Thinking over different plans, he suddenly heard Dark's voice in his mind _Your style is solid and powerful, but rigid. Sometimes, you need a little flexibility._

Yes…that's what had happened. Dark had disarmed him in under thirty seconds. Now how exactly had he done it?

Through all this, the Gerudo guard was watching him, studying him. He was probably trying to think of a plan and realizing it was hopeless. The kid had skill, she'd give him that, but not good enough to beat a Gerudo Warrior. She could just see it on his. He was giving up on himself, loosing the grip on his blade. The heavier sword dipped to the ground and he was barely holding on to it. Now was the time to strike…

Link saw it coming. Her body tensed like before. That spin attack was probably meant to be a finishing move and now that he'd seen it before, he could beat it. As soon as she jumped, his grip tightened on his blade. Link twisted his wrist, spinning the Master Sword up like a fan to block her blades from below. The sudden heavy impact from underneath sent the Gerudo staggering back, trying to regain her equilibrium, but Link was already there and attacked. Just as Dark had done to Link that night out in the fields, the guard had no possible chance to dodge or block. And just like how Dark had done to Link, he twisted his wrist at the last instant, smashing the flat of his blade into her exposed stomach. She doubled over, gasping as the unforgiving steel blade knocked the air from her lungs. Bringing his blade back, Link swung again, striking his blade across her shoulders and she collapsed against the cold flagstones, in a great deal of pain, but alive. She may have been an enemy, but it was Link's own personal rule that he would not kill a living person. There would be but one exception to that rule and that was Ganondorf himself.

Casually, Link stepped over the girls body and kicked her scimitars away just to be safe before flipping her body over and relieving her of the cell door key that hung from her belt. He'd just taken it off when her eyes flicked open, she rolled back, grabbed her swords and jumped up into the ceiling. Link waited a moment to see if she would attack again but the guard was gone.

"Wow! Thank you! We don't want to be thieves anymore. Those Gerudo are so rude! Three of my buddies are still being held! If you get them out too, we'll return the favor! Thanks, kid!"

And with that, the carpenter ran… no…more like _pranced _off, leaving the Hero shaking his head in disbelief. There was something decidedly queer about those guys. Not to mention how amazingly anticlimactic the whole scenario turned out to be. Normally his battles ended with something bursting into a cloud of bright neon fire. Getting thanked by a prancing carpenter man while his opponent retreated, probably sulking, just didn't stack up in comparison.

The Gerudo wasn't sulking. She was knelt on the floor before their acting leader, up in the highest room of the fortress, calmly explaining what had happened.

"So you lost…"

"Yes. I accept full responsibility for my failure. This is what I've learned about the intruder's fighting abilities…"

The Gerudo Leader leaned back in her chair and crossed her ankles as she listened to her subordinates analysis of the intruder. "Interesting. I think I may have to see this for myself," she mused

Once the carpenter was gone out of sight, Link frowned. If the other three carpenters were guarded by warriors of equal caliber, it might be a good idea to have an ace in the hole as it were. Taking a deep breath, Link brought his hands together to windmill them out while chanting, '_ Oh Goddess Farore, heed my call and send aid on swift wings to carry thy servant back to this haven in his time of need.'_

A phantom breeze swirled around his ankles and an orb of green energy appeared, signifying that the Goddess had accepted. Though he was seldom in a situation to call upon Farore, she was the Goddess he felt most comfortable invoking. Perhaps it had something to do with his section of the Triforce being Courage, it made the Goddess of Courage like his patron or something…

Link was gone. He'd actually gone though with it and left Dark standing in the dust. _No one_ treated Dark like that and for the first time since he'd hit the outside world, he was well and truly angry. No, worse. Dark was downright pissed and after his initial frustration screaming to the heavens what a bastard Link was, he stomped and fumed and planned his revenge.

"I am so going out there and kicking the crap out of him!" Dark yelled after circling the tent for the third time. The carpenter leaned up against the tent post, arms crossed as he watched Dark pace around wishing terrible fates on the boy who'd abandoned him.

"I thought you were supposed to help him out," the carpenter muttered.

Dark spun to glare. He wasn't sure if the man was being sarcastic or not but he answered anyways. "Of course! Im'ma make sure he's ok and if he is I'll kick his ass, nurse him back to health and the kick it again! How could the bastard just desert me like that!" Dark dropped to his knees, the familiar feelings of inferiority pushing to the surface. What if he just _wasn't _good enough and Link made all that stuff up to make him feel better. The thought of having Link pity him like that absolutely devastated Dark's confidence.

"I've gotta go after him," Dark said in an attempt to stay cheery and forget about the possibility that Link just might not need him. That reality would be too terrible to fathom, and so he eyed the cliff, contemplating if he could jump it or not.

The carpenter saw the speculative look in his eye and laughed. "Don't even try it. There is no way you could make a jump like that.

Dark blinked as the light slowly went off in his head. "No…I can't. But I know someone who can!"

With that he was running back down the path . As expected, Epona was waiting patiently at the bottom of the cliff. He walked up to her, still a little wary. "Hey, Epona? Listen...I know you probably don't really like me but…I need a favor," Dark said, gently laying a hand on her flank. The horse snorted and stamped a hoof , sending up a small cloud of dust. Dark went on hurriedly, "Link ran off ahead and left me behind and I'm worried about him. He could be getting into all kinds of trouble. He might need my help…so please, do it for him. Can you get me across the canyon?"

Dark bit his lip as Epona stared at him with liquid brown eyes. He didn't actually know for sure if the horse could understand him or not. He thought she might with how much Link talked to her and it didn't seem like a good idea to just mount up without asking. She stared at him for several minutes before snorting and lowering her head to lip at his fingers. Grinning at this small triumph, Dark patted her and climbed up into the saddle.

Back up at the top of the hill, the carpenter still sat outside when a sudden low thundering sound made him look down the path.. There was Dark, galloping up the trail breakneck speed, hunched low over his steed as then raced towards the ravine. The carpenter couldn't believe he was going to try _that. _

But they rode right up to edge of the ravine and leapt, sailing through the air to land on the other side. before racing off down the path towards the fortress.

"Goddess have mercy on you Link, you and anyone else who gets in my way because I will not," Dark murmured grimly, gripping his black blade to search for his lost Hero.


	7. Storming the Fortress Part Two

_Well everyone, here it is. The latest installment of my little story which i sadly do not own any anything off. Regardless. This chapter for some reason was extremely hard to write. It just didn't want to cooperate at all. Had to beat the thing out a few times, so i have this horrible feeling that it sucks completely, but i wanted to get it posted ASAP for all my wonderful readers. After all, you guys are the important ones here and i really really hate making you have to wait. So, if it is terrible, i apologize but at least i had good intentions right?_

Storming the Fortress (Part Two)

At first, Dark's plan was to ride valiantly right up to the fortress and slaughter everyone in sight. In his anger-hazed mind, this seemed like a good idea. '_Find Link. If someone gets in the way, kill them.'_ However, the merits of simple and easy to follow plans fell thought as he suddenly realized that if he was fighting a horde of trained female warriors, while he had no problem defending himself, he'd never fought on horseback…sighing, he pulled Epona to a stop and climbed down, giving her a gentle pat on the flank.

"Thanks for bringing me this far. You should go back now. If something happened to you, Link would never forgive me."

The horse snorted and turned to trot back. Dark wondered if she was just trying to shrug it off if indeed she even understood. Dark still didn't know for sure, but she sure acted like she did. Eh, whatever.

Really, it hadn't been that long of a ride. The breeze it generated was what had helped clear his head in the first place. Without the benefit of air circulation, suddenly the concept of a fortress-wide massacre to rescue Link from his almost certain peril was starting to sound like a good idea again. Very unlike Link, Dark jogged down the stone corridor and past the stairs to follow Link's trail. He didn't want to wait for all the guards to be facing away but though it was difficult, he curbed his instinct.

_C'mon Dark, pull yourself together. What would Link say if you came to rescue him all covered in blood? I know he'd say something…ehh…but my tunic is black; it wouldn't show up. Still… he's always going on about doing things the right way…_

Link slipped quietly down the chilly halls of the thieves' hideout. For some reason, the rooms and halls were disconnected, always leading back outside, forcing him to enter through a different door. When his first 'area' exited back out, it was to the main entrance of the fortress and all the security it had to offer. To the right, a low wall of wooden crates was all that shielded him from the guards and beyond that he had no desire to risk his neck to find out. Another door sat off to the left and only when he heard the sound of retreating footsteps did he dart towards the fortress door and the darkness inside.

Outside, the sudden flash of the blinding noonday sun had robbed Link of his night vision, so as he ducked into the dark halls inside the hideout, he spent his first few seconds blinking the little white dots out of his vision. Once he could see again in the dim halls, the first thing to greet him was the large horned skull hanging from the walls.

_Apparently the Gerudo like to keep trophies of their spoils,_ he thought as he shook his head. The concept seemed kind of vain to him. Never mind that each dungeon he'd sacked, he always came out with a souvenier bow, a hammer, a new pair of boots, two extra sets of clothes. Or, back when he'd still been a child, he'd gotten a slingshot, a boomerang and a bracelet. But of course, that was completely different.

What was it even from? An ox? A buffalo? The skull seemed to grin at him from the wall dead ahead. It seemed to be a T-junction with one wooden crate blocking off half his hallway. Maybe it made him feel young again but Link actually liked getting on the ground to inch his way around the box to see down the hall. Left was, of course, a dead end with nothing whatsoever in it. Link sighed. For some inexplicable reason, dead ends bothered him to no end. Down the hall in the other direction, Link saw a hall branch to the right and another to the left at the end. He decided to take the first corridor, since a Gerudo was disappearing down the far hall, or not necessarily a Gerudo but someone carrying a long bladed staff and getting into unnecessary fights would not be in his best interest.

Once he felt the coast was clear Link slipped out of his hiding spot to take the first fork right and take the ramp up and out into the sun again. Back outside, the heat crashed into him like a wave of scorching ocean water, though the salt water that drenched his face was not from the ocean, but his own sweat. Up on a ledge of the tan stone, the sun was merciless in its attempt to ignite the boy where he stood. Sweat ran in shining rivulets down his face, making his eyes sting. Goddess, it was like the Fire Temple all over again. As he reached up to wipe his face on a sleeve, the sudden sound of footsteps right around the corner made him freeze.

_Step. Step. Step… Scuff… Step… Step…_

Peering around the corner, Link saw the purple-clad guard strolling the other way. Not that there was much room to stroll to on the small balcony, so while he had the chance, Link slipped around the corner and into the cool darkness that the Gerudo was supposed to be guarding.

The constant changing back and forth from heat to cold, light to dark, was really starting to mess with both his body's temperature control and his eyesight. A tightening in his shoulders foreshadowed the pounding headache that would come brutally knocking at his skull several hours later when all the adrenaline cleared his system. Until such time as it did, however, Link would descend the ramp before him into the bowels of the fortress once more. Readjusting back to the darkness again made his eyes ache and he had to half slide down the ramp, keeping his eyes shut till they'd adjusted more.

Again, descending into the bowels of the sandstone fortress took Link to an open room with a prominently displayed jail cell in the wall, and in it a rather frightened-looking carpenter. Link couldn't tell the difference between him and the first one.

"Hey! Young man! Look over here!"

Link sighed, already smelling a habit in the making. Apparently no one had ever taught these carpenters the meaning of _quiet._

"Yes, now please keep quiet while I figure out how to open this." If the gods were feeling generous. If the oaf hadn't already alerted the local security.

"Be careful though. There's sure to be a Gerudo guard somewhere…around…here…woo, watch out!"

Apparently they weren't feeling generous. Just as before, a scarlet-clad Gerudo guard dropped from the ceiling. She had the same weapons; two identical scimtars, the same catlike grace and the same apparent desire to show off as much skin as reasonably possible.

She noticed him staring and winked. "C'mon boy, you wanna dance? We already know about you and we don't fall for the same tricks twice." Link rolled his eyes. He'd never been one for pre9battle banter. Trash-talking opponents just wasn't something he normally did since most creatures weren't capable of talking.

Hissing like a coiled snake, she attacked like one also, relying on quick stabs and vertical slashes that slowly pushed him back towards the wall. Even if he could get off the defensive and find an opening to attack, he already knew the dual blades defense and his "Dark" move would only work on horizontal slashes. The fast, relentless assault of stabbing blades made it through the Hero's guard, leaving him with multiple shallow cuts along his arms.

Like with Dark and the giant Stalfos, in fact anytime Link was in a crisis, his first habit was to mentally check his pockets to perhaps use a different tool to accomplish the job and his mind fell on such a simple, devious…admittedly, it was also a cruel and unusual plan, but still. Perhaps it was the heat, but Link was finding himself very short-tempered. So, he decided to try something different and go along with his cruel plan.

Using the wall for momentum, Link pushed off with a heavy diagonal slash. The sudden change in his bearing forced the Gerudo to back off for a minute and that instants open sealed her fate, for when Link turned, she saw him throw something at the ground and then a bright flash of light and nothing after that.

For Link, the Deku nut was a very simple item, in fact one of the first he ever got. When broken open it would release a flash of light that would temporarily paralyze anybody caught in the blast radius. And the Gerudo woman wasn't moving so it had apparently been successful. Stunned, she could do nothing to stop the Hylian from strolling up and casually pick-pocketing the key that was hanging from her belt before heading off down the nearby hall to hide around the corner. He didn't want to open the cage quite yet.

Another effect of the exploding Deku nut was that after the paralysis faded, the Gerudo guard wouldn't know that any time had passed. From her perspective, there'd been a flash of light and the intruder had simply vanished. She glanced around cautiously, looking for some sort of ambush. When she went to take a step forward, she kicked something round and heavy, like a rock. Four rocks.

Link, who was lying in wait around the corner for her to move, had his bow in one hand and a fire arrow already nocked and ready. Aim…fire.

The bombs all went off in order, like dominos falling, and the resulting explosion blasted the Gerudo off her feet and flying into the hard sandstone wall behind to slump to the ground.

Yes, the heat was definitely getting to him. Normally he wouldn't have considered something so brash but this place was really starting to grate on his nerves.

He turned and unlocked the cell door cell door, letting the carpenter man out, but when he turned back around to put the Gerudo in the cell, she was gone. Frowning, he looked around for where she could have slipped off to. High above, the defeated guard gave her report to the Gerudo Leader. She leaned back in her seat, toying with a long red braid thoughtfully. Perhaps this kid was worth looking into.

"Hey, thanks for saving me! You're a cute kid."

Link stared for a minute, horrified. This fat, ugly middle-aged man was _hitting on him?_ The thought made Link more then a little ill, and his mind jumped to Dark; the only other male to do so…to Link's face anyways. At least Dark wasn't horrendous; after all, he was modeled after the Hero of Time himself, and while Link didn't think his looks were anything special, the number of his female acquaintances who regularly took time out of their day to go and flirt with him and, not to mention the random multitudes of women who would give him a suggestive smile as he strolled through town, indicated that perhaps he was a fair bit more attractive then he gave himself credit for.

Having had the opportunity to look at someone nearly identical to him, he could see why. They weren't exactly alike though. Aside from the obvious differences in the colors of their hair, clothes and eyes, Dark was also slightly shorter and slightly less muscular, but still cute in a childish sort of way…when he wasn't downright leering at the blond, that was.

The carpenter, however, didn't seem to notice Link's rather obvious distaste and went on, "Man, those women are scary! I'm getting out of here. Being a carpenter doesn't sound so bad anymore. Please save the others. If you do, we'll give you something nice."

Before prancing off, the man went so far as to _wink at him._ Link didn't reply. He was too busy resisting the urge to vomit. After all, where in the rules of being a hero did it say that just because he was a pillar of justice and righteousness for all the land to follow that he had to put up with this kind of blatant sexual harassment?

Grumbling irritably, he continued off down the stone corridors of the hideout. As expected, the tunnel led back out into the brilliant sunlight, temporarily blinding the Hero once more. Hissing against the light as he covered his eyes with a sleeve, Link stumbled his way out onto the ledge. Once his vision cleared, Link stood on a seemingly dead-end area. He looked around but aside from the way he'd just come through, two walls and a drop down to a lower ledge. He thought about just jumping down but upon closer inspection, the wall straight ahead was pitted with holes and jagged rocks that might give enough of a foothold to climb to the ledge above.

Fortunately for his hands, Link was wearing gloves. Otherwise, scaling that wall would not only have sliced into his palms but after sitting out in the glare of the hot sun for hours on end the stone fortress was quite literally hot enough to fry an egg on. That exact fact had been proven several days before up on the roof of the fortress, though eggs fried on the ground tended to be somewhat more crunchy then eggs cooked normally.

Aside from taking the front gate, there really was no other entrance for Dark to take, nor any other path to follow than to walk the footsteps of his Hero. The side entrance, wait till all the guards are faced away then run across in into the dark halls of the fortress. The chill breeze inside surprised him. Dark would have thought that with as hot as it was outside that in here it would be baking like an oven but it was just the opposite. Oddly it was just the opposite.

Shrugging, Dark began his casual stroll down the halls. As a warrior, Dark was always cautious, but he lacked Link's need to be sneaky. The swordsman didn't believe in all that 'sneaking around' crap, especially when it was clear that no one was there. The first room, empty. The jailcell sat open and the brown shards of glass littering the floor indicated that someone had already been through and pillaged the pottery. Yep, Link had definitely been here.

But not anymore. Dark only spared enough time to give the room a quick going over before moving on. Not a sound could be heard in the dark stone tunnels aside from the echo of his boots and his worried sigh as he moved back up the hall and out into the small boxed-in plaza. The heat crashed down over him like a flaming blanket, suffocating him. Dark was reacting to the heat far worse than Link had been. He avoided the sunlight whenever possible.

Though he would have preferred to take his time inside, the need to track down Link before he hurt himself was enough to speed the shadow down the halls, practically jogging. When he got to the split fork, he followed after Link by taking the first one he came to and, like his Hero, ended up on a ledge cringing away from the sun. Dark went jogging right on through and back into the fortress, down the ramp and past the second empty jail cell. Apparently Link had been here too. The residual smell of gunpowder in the air attested to this but no sign of the Hero's current whereabouts.

"Dammit Link, where are you?"

By now, Dark was full-out sprinting as a growing feeling of unease in settled in his stomach. He didn't stop to notice trivial things. For him, the only way to go was down, so that's what he did. The short drop left him standing right in front of a door and relief from the heat. Following the corridor around a corner, Dark again entered into a larger open room with a prison cell set into the wall, but this one was occupied.

"Hey! You, young man! Look over here."

"Sorry. Too busy to deal with you," Dark muttered, not even deigning to give the man a passing glance as he strode towards the far corridor. The man stared, horrified as his hope of salvation passed him by.

That was when a Gerudo dropped from the ceiling to eye the warrior speculatively.

"Mmm…I'd heard we had a rat but I was expecting someone a little more…_impressive_ looking. Our boss wants to see you . Come quietly and you won't get hurt _too_ much, little boy," she whispered huskily.

Dark rolled his eyes. It was just one thing after another today. "I don't have time for you either lady so get outta my way," he growled.

Thinking it was Link, the Gerudo just laughed. "We've already heard all about your tricks and they won't work again. The leader said we're to stop going easy on you. We were just supposed to measure your abilities but now she wants to see you, so you're coming with me whether you want to or not."

The Gerudo drew her scimitars, glaring and hissing and waiting, tensed to strike. Dark was unimpressed. So unimpressed, in fact, that he didn't even bother to draw his sword and instead walked right past the woman.

To be so ignored was extremely insulting. Intent on teaching the boy a little respect, she lunged forward, both blades moving smoothly into a series of quick slashes that would disable both of his arms, leaving him defenseless against strikes at his legs and stopping his mobility, which would leave him open to a knockout move.

Theoretically.

As the Gerudo lunged forward to slash at him, Dark slipped between her blades and caught hold of her wrists. "Listen, bitch. I warned you already. Don't. Get. In my _way_," he snarled, swinging her over one shoulder and slamming her into the floor.

The carpenter stared at this unchecked display of brutality, horrified. Even though the Gerudo women were scary, this guy was like a nightmare come to life. He cringed back as Dark opened the door and tossed the unconscious Gerudo into the cell.

"Go on. Quite your sniveling and get out of there."

The carpenter nodded hesitantly and exited the barred area. "Th-thanks for saving me. I'll tell you something interesting I overheard. Some Gerudo were talking about how you would need something called the 'Eye of Truth' to cross the desert to get to the Colossus. Apparently that's where their headquarters, the Spirit Temple is."

Dark nodded. "Thanks. And don't worry about her. She'll be fine sooner or later," he said, glancing down at the Gerudo as he locked the cell door.

"Oh no sir, I'm not worried at all. Do you know what they were going to do to us?" he asked in a terrified whisper. When Dark shook his head, the carpenter pointed up at another of the Gerudo "Decorations."

Hanging from the wall was…what _seemed _to be a man. His head had been shaved and he was hanging upside down with both legs broken at the knees so they could point in opposite directions. His arms had been sewn with colorful feathers to look like the wings of a bird.

"They killed a guy and had him preserved…and he's not the only one. I've seen three others." The carpenter glanced around nervously, flat-out running when Dark pointed him towards the exit.

Following the hall, Dark came to another room. He stood at the top of a ramp that ran down to the right and beneath him was what seemed to be a sort of mess hall. On the other side of the mess hall was an identical ramp leading up and out, but he couldn't cross the room due to all the guards. He looked around frantically for some way to cross, knowing it was only a matter of time before someone looked up. He saw an opportunity and he took it by making a run at the wall. A few of them did glance at the door, but they wouldn't see anything suspicious as Dark glanced down from his position, crouched up on top of a rafter.

Though there wasn't much room between the rafters and the ceiling, Dark was physically fit enough to leap from one rafter to the next. Of course, if he missed his footing, he'd plummet to the ground, probably making a mess and getting some women very angry at him. As entertaining as that would be, there was a certain blond in here somewhere who demanded his immediate attention.

So, Dark had to forego his fun as he dropped to the ground on the opposite ramp to slip out the door. Fortunately, when this ramp led him back up into the sun, another door was sitting right there, so his night vision didn't completely die. The familiar dark stone halls once again embraced him, chilling the beading drops of sweat on his forehead. Gods, but that was exhausting. Every time he walked through a door he was assaulted by the exact opposite of what he'd gotten used to. It kept his body in a constant state of readjusting and he didn't like it at all. The place should have been an oven, cooking its inhabitants like roast Cuckoo. Why then? Why was it so cold?

The stone walls conducted sound. He knew his boot steps would echo so when he heard talking somewhere down the hall, he had to be very careful to avoid making any noise, creeping close enough to make out what they were saying.

"… looking to waste."

"I don't know. I'd like to be able to see him every day."

It sounded like a group. Dark poked his head around the corner and grit his teeth. There was Link, bruised all over and hanging by his wrists from some wall-mounted manacles as a green-clad Gerudo trailed her fingers down his chest. His sword lay discarded off to the side.

"Well, I think we should have some fun with him first. He is pretty cute, don't you girls agree?"

There was a murmuring of general approval from the group of eleven surrounding Link.

"Of course, _I'll _have him first but don't worry, ladies. You'll all get your chance to take a turn with the 'prisoner'," said the one wearing green.

With a satisfied chuckle as no one disagreed, the Gerudo leader leaned in towards the captive Link, lips parted slightly as though for a kiss.

That did it. Dark burst out of his hiding spot and stalked out into the room with a feral snarl. The Gerudo leader turned to see what was interrupting her and with her all eyes turned to stare at the boy who had so foolishly walked right into the middle of a large group of hostile trained warriors.

"Well, now. The Goddess has seen fit to give us _another _boy-toy. We'll have to have an extra celebration for this." The group chuckled appreciatively. "You've got guts kid, we'll give you that, but you don't stand a chance."

In that instant, Dark found himself in the middle of twenty two sword points aimed at him should he resist.

Link watched anxiously as Dark stared coldly at the leader of the bandit group. There was something different about the way he held himself. The Dark he knew would grin, crack a joke or make a snide comment.

Unflinching, each word formed with icy precision, Dark drew his blade.

"I stand as helpless as a hunter in a herd of cows and I intend to butcher you all like the cattle you are."

That's Link was seeing in Dark's eyes. His ruby gaze glowed, shining like the blood he planned to spill without remorse. Full intent to kill. Dark had always, even in his most flirtatious moments, had a childlike innocence. Seeing him here, ready to kill without hesitation, scared Link even more then all the Gerudo combined.

"No! Dark, please. Do not kill them." He flinched at the look Dark gave him. "…for me."

Dark eyed Link impassively for a moment before nodding. "Fine. But you're getting out of here as soon as you can. Wait for me outside."

Several more guards poured in from behind them. Dark didn't bat an eye.

"Dark, are you serious?"

"You do not want to know how serious I am. Get out now. You owe me this at least for ditching me back there."

Link sighed. Dark had a point. He knew it was a bad move, knowing how Dark felt about the matter. But at the time he'd felt justified in doing so. So, with extreme frustration, Link sent up a prayer to the Goddess Farore to carry him back to where he'd originally cast the spell. The Gerudo watched on in silence as the two argued, unsure how to react.

That was when their prisoner suddenly disappeared. The manacles he'd been caught in stayed shut and attached to the wall, but Link was gone.

Now, all twenty two blades that had been pointed at him before just out of habit were now aimed in dead earnest. "Where is he!" the lead thief shrieked, but Dark's icy glare never faltered.

"You should be thanking your gods that the one person dear to me has asked that your lives be spared. Make no mistake, if I had my way, I would see each and every one of you dead."

And then he swung. Even surrounded by so many people, Dark was still putting up a fight. Even against the trained warriors, his unorthodox way of moving made all their training as easy to read as Link, so it was no hard task to spin his blade like a fan and deflect five, six, seven attacks at once. Plus, seeing as how he was lacking in any sense of fair play, he had no problem grabbing any Gerudo that got too close and using her as a shield or even a projectile weapon. There were a few occasions where the girl he grabbed soon found herself barreling into her peers. It was a way to keep them on their toes while clearing his way to the wall.

The Gerudo seemed to think that it was a good thing to get him backed up into a corner.

Wrong. That was playing right into his hands, for that corner was where the Master Sword rested. Wielding one blade, Dark was fearsome. Wielding two, he was a nightmare. He hissed, baring his fangs at the group of women who'd dared to lay a hand on his Link; now that he had the last thing he needed from this fort it was time to start dishing out punishment.

The scimitar was a well-forged weapon. Compared to the Master Sword, or Dark's ebony blade, they might as well have been using sticks. Finally unleashing his full strength, each swing Dark made was accompanied by the sound of shattering metal as he sheared through the steel to snap the ends of their blades off, leaving them open to a sword hilt smashing into a jaw.

In accordance with Link's wishes, he wouldn't kill anybody. But he could sure as hell break some bones. One thing to be said for the Gerudo tribe however was their indomitable fighting spirit. Even with a broken jaw and no weapons, they still continued to attack, and worse, the commotion drew more. Even though he was more skilled by far, Dark couldn't avoid every attack. His black tunic was made so that his scratches blended in. It never looked like they damaged him at all, but he still felt all his injuries.

In the end, Dark had to flee.

When he teleported back into the empty first cell room, the first thing Link did was head outside. After all, those _were _Dark's instructions and unlike some people, Link was actually capable of following directions. He snuck back out the way he came in and waited for Dark.

As it turned out, he didn't have to wait all that long. Dark came dashing out of the uppermost window and started jumping down balconies to the ledges below. The thirty guards followed close behind him. Dark hit the ground running and so did his entourage. The three ground level guards even joined in the chase after Dark, who was sprinting away as fast as he could.

"Link! Run!"

He didn't need to be told twice. The two raced down the canyon side by side and Dark took the opportunity to hand back the Master Sword right as the chasm over the river came into view. Link had just reached the edge of the chasm, looking down into the rushing waters of the river when he noticed that Dark was no longer with him but back waiting to hold off against the oncoming horde.

"Dark! Get out of there!" he screamed, pushing magic into his voice to layer it with the authority that just might get the boy to heed his command. Instead of turning and running as the wave of screaming purple banshees descended upon him, Dark simply vanished as Link felt something burning against his chest.

That's right. Dark was connected to the Water Medallion. He was safe, then; Link knew instinctively. With his partner out of danger, Link gave the furious female army one last smile and a wave before leaping off the cliff to plummet down into the raging waters below.


	8. Pressure

_AN: Well, I had a lot of fun with this chapter, so it got done fast. I can't wait to hear what you guys think. _

_Also, to answer a few questions: _

_Navi does not exist. I don't like her._

_Yes, Link is the taller one. Blasphemy, I know. Oh well =P_

_And… I already have the whole story planned out. I just have to write it. Its hard to say how long its going to be but rough estimate says 15 chapters. Thank you all so much again, and I'll be back soon with Chapter 9_

Pressure

Dark looked around, helplessly in the grip of terror. One second he was out in the canyon, ready to fight valiantly against a horde or rampaging Gerudo warriors in the defense of his Hero. The next he was standing on a familiar sandbank surrounded by stagnant, ankle-deep water that stretched on as far as the eye could see. This was the room in the Water Temple he'd spent most of his life in. This was his home. This was his prison.

"No…" he whispered, feeling panic setting in. "No, no, no, no!"

He ran off-it didn't really matter which direction-until he hit the invisible wall that caged him in. Dark kicked at the wall, clawed at it, scratched it, slashed it but nothing ever happened. Wild eyed, he ran at the door, tugging on the bars that blocked it shut with all the strength he could muster but they wouldn't budge.

Dark dropped to his knees, pale and shivering and absolutely terrified. He'd tasted freedom and couldn't stand to have it taken away again, especially not so soon. If he spent too much time in this illusion where time did not exist, he'd eventually question whether Link had been just a dream. How could the Goddesses be so cruel as to do that to him?

"Maybe…maybe I died? How did I die? I don't remember dying!" he wailed, clutching at whatever ideas might keep him sane…but then, if he had died then that meant his strength, his sole redeeming quality, had failed him.

Panting as his heart tried to claw its way out of his chest, Dark hugged his knees against his chest. "Link! Din! Nayru, Farore! Someone get me out of here!" he cried, sending up a frantic prayer to anyone that would listen. While it was the Three Golden Goddesses that heard his prayer, it was answered by another; the fourth one he had named.

A pillar of soft blue light pierced the pall of clouds above and enveloped the panic-stricken swordsman, easing his distress as it carried him up into the heavens…

When the light cleared, Dark was sitting in a small dark cavern in between two shallow pools of water. Ahead of him another column of light shone down from a hole in the ceiling.

He knew someone was behind him. He knew it was Link too, but he wouldn't turn around. At least not until he had his emotions under control. After all, Link's stubbornness had caused a lot of trouble, so he wouldn't give Link the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

Link cleared his throat hesitantly as he looked down at Dark sitting there, back stiff and shoulders tense. The boy was used to reading body language and right then, Dark's was saying, y_ou are in __**big **__trouble!_

Much as Link would have liked to avoid a conflict, he was backed into a dead end and Dark was blocking the only exit and slowly getting to his feet. Thinking it would probably be best to salvage as much of the situation as possible before Dark finished standing up. "Ah… Dark? I just wanted to say that-"

Dark spun around and swung. The sudden fist smashing into his nose caught the Hero completely off guard. The next thing he knew, he was on his back with Dark sitting on his stomach. "What the hell is wrong with you! You think you can fix this by apologizing?" he growled, grabbing Link by the collar and pulling his shoulders off the ground to shake him around. A minute later he sighed and let the blond fall back into the dust.

Link stared up, dumbfounded by the number and variety of emotions that flashed across Dark's face.

Anger, panic, gratitude, disappointment, hesitation, fear, panic, sadness, but above all was relief.

Link was just confused. First Dark punched him, tackled him, had shaken him silly and was now… hugging him? How could he even keep track of all that?

"Idiot. I was really worried about you," Dark whispered, resting his head on the red expanse of cloth beneath him. Now Link felt really horrible about himself. Dark was back into his 'innocent mode' and seeing that look, that heartbreaking look made Link feel like one of those terrible people that went around kicking puppies and stealing candy from children. "Why did you leave me behind?" As much as he tried to hold himself together, Dark's voice wavered and he heard the blond sigh. Link didn't think he could get any lower but hearing that he knew just how wrong he was. He also knew that in many ways that Dark was just as much a child as he was…a child he'd pushed to the brink of tears.

Dark's body was not heavy at all but beneath the weight of all that guilt, Link was nearly crushed. "I… This is my destiny to fulfill. You should not have to shoulder my responsibilities."

Dark pushed himself up, glaring at that blond, his crimson eyes swimming with unshed tears. "Just who the hell do you think you are? We're partners and if you didn't want my help you shouldn't have accepted my oath. I mean, do you even realize how selfish you are!"

Link blink, somewhat taken aback that he of all people would be accused of being selfish. "I do not see how. I only ever think of the wellbeing of-"

"Of your reputation!" Dark interrupted, growling. "You spend so much time trying to be the Hero that you think everyone expects you to be. So you're not selfish in the traditional sense. You need to think of yourself more, but how can you say you're not when you completely ignore me? Is your opinion the only one that matters? You're always going on about the good of the country, but you're unwilling to go a little out of your way to satisfy the one person sitting right in front of you!"

Link frowned, his gaze going flat. " I am not sleeping with you Dark."

"I'm not talking about sex!" he screamed and they both stopped and shared a blink. Neither had _ever_ thought they'd hear those words come out of Dark's mouth.

Slightly shaken, Dark drew a deep breath and forged on, "You need to stop acting like you're fighting alone because you aren't. I made you a promise for a reason and I intend to keep it, but I can't do that when you keep pushing me away. How do you think it makes me feel, knowing that my only friend turns me down every chance he gets? I feel…unnecessary."

The blond smacked his head back into the ground. Link, the glorious Hero of Time and not-so-glorious disappointment to the only person who'd ever offered him a hand. Already he could feel the cold, insidious fangs of guilt brushing his chest, just waiting to sink in.

Goddesses all damn it. Why did he have to be so susceptible to it? Of all the dangers he'd been in, even falling off cliffs, being electrocuted, roasted in lava, drowned, frozen and impaled, this hurt the most, the feeling that he was somehow failing in his life's purpose.

"I… I can handle myself just fine. I accomplished a great deal before you showed up. I thought you would need rest and did not want to interfere with your recovery." Link muttered in a last ditch attempt to justify himself but his resolution was crumbling to the point that he himself no longer believed it.

Dark snorted. "Yeah. You care so much about my recovery that you practically slap me across the face and abandon me to sit around and worry about whether you're ok or not. When I finally do snap and decide to go help, I find you chained to a wall just minutes away from becoming a sex toy for the _entire_ fortress. You know what they'd do when they finished? They'd slice you open and rip out your guts, stuff you like some hunting trophy and mount you on the wall!"

Link paled as his overactive imagination kicked in, filling his mind with all the bloody details.

"Oh. And you owe me two by the way," Dark added, almost as an afterthought. At Link's questioning glance, he explained, "One for hauling your butt out of the frying pan and one for sparing them. She… she was about to kiss you, and I was ready to butcher that entire group. I let them live as a favor to you. A favor I expect back someday."

He sounded so affronted about it. "I do not understand. Compared to their brutal treatment of the male gender, why is a kiss so im-"

Link never got to finish his sentence as he felt Dark's lips cover his, soft and hesitant, as though he were still figuring out what to do. Dark felt it was something he had to do and damn the consequences. He'd felt sure that Link would be upset so he was more then surprised when the blond started kissing him back. This was it, he was kissing the Hero of Time. _**My**__ Hero of Time, _he thought hazily. They both tasted of blood and sweat, but beneath that was a flavor unique and Dark just couldn't get enough of it, this sweet floral flavor.

Much as he would have loved to keep his lips permanently attached to his Hero, Dark wisely decided to pull back. He knew he'd gotten lucky so he didn't want to push the blond too far. Sitting back, Dark belatedly answered the original question, "It's important because I wanted to be your first kiss."

They both blushed at that and looked away, waiting in awkward silence for a minute before Dark cleared his and looked around. The cave wasn't very large and aside from a small patch of knee high grass by a small treasure box and a small pool of water with a fish, there wasn't much down there.

"Ah, yes. We are under a small ledge set into the cliffside a short way down canyon above the river. I spotted it before we crossed and jumped down after you disappeared. I was a worried about you for a moment as well. Fortunate for us I could call you back into the Water Medallion," Link said as he fished the blue talisman out from under his shirt.

He knew Link hadn't done it maliciously so he chose not to hold any grudges…still…he couldn't suppress a shiver. "Yeah…it sent me back to my cage in the Water Temple. I thought I'd died and been sent back as punishment. Thought I was gonna go crazy for a minute, until you let me out again."

Link nodded, staring thoughtfully at the token that Princess Ruto had given him. "That could prove useful in the future. I know you don't like it in there but would you mind returning occasionally if I believe it will be helpful?"

Dark sighed. Now that he hopefully had gotten Link to take his thoughts into account, now he had to ask for the hard stuff. "Is it _really _that important" he whined, flinching when Link raised a brow.

"I know a song to warp out of here. The only other alternative is to dive roughly one hundred fifty feet down into rapid filled river. I prefer to take the safer way."

Dark snickered. "Triforce of Courage. You scared of a little cliff diving?" he teased.

"There is an old saying that caution is the better part of valor. I do not intend to risk my life if it can be avoided, particularly not to try and impress you," Link replied dryly. Dark only shrugged.

"Alright, fine. Let's say I agree and you warp out of here. Where are we going? You know what we have to do next?"

Link narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Something about the casual, slightly mocking way he asked made him almost hesitate to ask. Whatever Dark had planned, it couldn't be good.

"You know something, don't you? What is it?"

Grinning, the black swordsman stretched slowly, exaggerating every movement to try and get his partner impatient. "Yeah, I know something. I'll trade ya for it. You tell me something I wanna know first and I'll tell you what I heard."

It only figured that the person he had to get saddled with would treat saving the world as a game. "Dark. This is important."

"Yeah, yeah, the fate of the world rests on it. I know. If that's the case, Mr. I-must-save-the-world-at-any-cost, then you shouldn't be hesitating. All you have to do is answer a question. You should be happy that it's so easy for once"

Link sighed. Sometimes dealing with Dark was more exhausting then the task of battling monsters for the sake of world peace. "Fine. What do you want to know?" he muttered tiredly, trying to ignore Dark's mischievous grin.

"Did you enjoy kissing me?" he whispered, breathing the question into the blonde's ear, smirking in satisfaction as Link's face heated to the color of his tunic. For several minutes he stared off into the rock, thinking. This was a condition to learn information relevant to his quest and even though he knew Dark was just doing it to get a rise out of him, he still wanted to give an honest answer. He thought back to the kiss, to Dark's lips, soft and warm as they brushed against his own, to the faint bittersweet flavor of black licorice that still lingered on his tongue.

"I…yes," he whispered and cursed himself for blushing even harder..

"Mmm…good. I enjoyed kissing you too. So, as agreed, we need something called the Eye of Truth to cross the desert to the Spirit Temple." It'd been bugging him for a while now and Dark finally got fed up with his curiosity and went over to open the lonely treasure chest in the back of the cave.

Link leaned back against the cavern walls, thinking back. The Eye of Truth…it sounded familiar. "Oh yes. I remember now. I heard it mentioned as a child in Kakariko Village. It was some kind of Sheikah artifact. In that case I have a song to warp nearby."

"Well, then couldn't you just teach me the song?" Dark asked curiously. Some nights, Link stayed up and play songs. On those nights, Dark would stay up too and listen to the soothing melodies. Again, he was a little jealous of all the different things Link could do, and while playing the Ocarina wouldn't help him in battle, it still would be nice to learn. Besides, the blond had an extra one laying around anyways that he'd used to give Dark a few introductory lessons. Link normally played the Ocarina of Time but he had another, a carved light brown wooden Ocarina that he took out sometimes when he was deep in thought and the song he played on it was a song of the forest. Whenever that happened he found himself wondering if maybe the boy was home sick. That's why he was more then a little surprised when Link told him he could hold onto it.

"I… suppose," Link murmured thoughtfully. "But it will not assist you any."

"So maybe I wanted to learn just because." Dark rolled his eyes, debating whether to go on. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to speak his mind once in a while. "Y'see… All I'm really good at is fighting and killing. I know it won't help me fight but I still want to learn something that can make me something more then just an instrument of war."

Link stared as Dark put on his brave smile. Once again, he couldn't refuse his request after hearing something like that. "Fine… I will teach you to play some more, but not right now. I want to be off to Kakariko as soon as possible. Is that acceptable?"

"Wooh! Twenty Rupees!" Dark crowed over the contents of the small chest that had been sitting untouched for the entirety of their conversation. The shadow grinned, holding up the red crystal that was used for currency throughout the land, completely ignoring the conversation at hand. For such a powerful swordsman, he could be such a little kid sometimes. As much as it wore on his patience though, Link really couldn't begrudge the boy his excuse to smile.

"Dark. May I put you back in the Medallion so we can get out of here?"

Dark made a face and eyed the blue Medallion dubiously. "If… it won't be for too long, then…I guess so," he conceded with a long suffering sigh.

"It will only be a few minutes and I will release you as soon as I can," Link promised and sucked Dark back into the Medallion. There was no vortex, no flash of light and no puff of smoke. He was simply and suddenly gone.

The Bolero of Fire, a low and stately march was the song he'd learned to warp to the Fire Temple. Down the spell came, carrying him away to the Death Mountain Crater.

The heat that assaulted him upon materializing was relentless; even worse then the burning desert sun. If he hadn't already been dressed in the Goron Tunic and protected by its charm, the extreme heat would have his skin cracked and blistering within minutes of arriving.

As it was, just seconds of the extreme heat and Link was already drenched in sweat. He hadn't liked the Fire Temple the first time through and had no desire to visit it again. To get off the small rock island in the center of the crater, a wooden bridge stretched across the pits of bubbling lava to a path along the edge that spiraled up to the exit high above. At least, the bridge used to extend across the pits of bubbling lava, but at some point in time it had collapsed, probably due to prolonged exposure to extreme heat. That made it impassible to the average person, but the wooden posts at each end had survived and made a nice target for the Hookshot.

Shooting across the gap to the other side, Link's first instinct was to run up the path a short ways to the conveniently placed Fairy Fountain. It was just an ordinary passageway cut into the mountainside, but the oppression heat cut off abruptly, unable to cross some magical bubble that kept the Great Fairy not only safe from enemies, but also cool and comfortable and somehow providing soft relaxing harp music. Where it actually came from , he still didn't know.

As soon as the heat cut off, Link pulled out the Medallion where it hung from a cord around his neck and sent a small pulse of magic to call Dark out. A moment later his partner appeared on the floor in front of him as quickly and silently as he'd vanished.

"Huh? Where are we now?" Dark asked, glancing around to get oriented with his surroundings. Link offered a hand to help the boy up then headed down to stand on the edge of the fountain.

"This is a Great Fairy's Fountain. It is one of the few safe places to rest and I stop by as often as I can," Link replied before taking out his Ocarina. The very first song he'd learned, Zelda's Lullaby rang softly through the room, its muffled notes hanging heavily on both boy's eyelids. It was actually an ancient song of the Royal Family and as the notes died, they were replaced by the high echoing laughter of the Great Fairy who emerged from the shallow fountain water.

"Welcome back, Hero," she giggled. "You may rest here and I will ease your weariness. And that of your friend, if you wish. Will you introduce us?"

Dark missed everything both of them said. He was busy staring; staring and drooling over the fairy floating above in the air before them. Her long pink hair was pulled into three long strands that flowed out behind her, tied together with black glittering bands that matched a thick ring around her eyes. The black glitter was also the only thing remotely resembling clothing that she wore. It wasn't even clothing really, but more like a tattoo of vines and leaves so that she wouldn't be completely nude.

Oh no, without the tattoos, she still wouldn't be totally nude. She had boots on too.

Link frowned. Leave it to Dark to blatantly stare at one of the most powerful magical beings in the country. Just because that magical being happened to take the shape of a mostly nude adult woman with large breasts was no reason to stare…that was just disrespectful to the highest extent!

Not to mention, the nymphomaniac fairy wouldn't do the slightest thing to discourage Dark from staring…or doing more then just staring if he were even slightly inclined to do so. Link found himself gritting his teeth as he thought about that. Just because he'd never responded to Dark's advances was no reason to just up and throw them at someone else!

Two columns of green energy came spiraling down to envelope the boys. Since Hyrule had no practical form of healing magic that he'd ever seen, Link watched as he normally did in fascination as his wounds magically closed. Dark didn't seem to notice, seemingly in a trance as he stared unblinking at the Great Fairy's body.

Suddenly he snapped back to reality as a leather gloved hand slipped under his jaw and pushed it shut. Dark blinked. He'd had his mouth open? Huh; he hadn't even noticed. Oh well, not like it made any difference…then why was Link storming off towards the exit? He glanced back and forth in confusion as Link left and the Great Fairy sank back into her fountain in a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"H-hey! Hey, hang on a minute! Wait up!" Dark yelled as he ran off towards his partner. Link didn't seem to hear him. The light of the fountain faded behind him and a strange, unhealthy red glow appeared ahead. Suddenly out of nowhere, a wall of immense heat, burning like the fires of a thousand King Dodongo's breathing on him all at the same time. This made even the desert sun look like a torch beside an oven.

The sudden change was so intense that Dark recoiled instinctively, staggering back into the cool domain of the Great Fairy. Link however never faltered, shrinking into the distance. "Jeez, what is wrong with him!" Dark growled, plunging back into the suffocating heat of the volcano crater.

When he got out, Dark was just in time to see Link disappearing down a side passage off to the left. Dashing off across a bridge over a pit of boiling lava that would strip flesh from bone in mere seconds turned out to not be such a good idea. Again, the sudden violent increase in heat as he stepped over the lava knocked the boy unsuspecting back once more. Swearing softly, he grit his teeth and ran across the bridge, ready this time for the searing blast of heat that engulfed his body.

Though he'd only been in the heat for less then a minute, he was already feeling dizzy and lightheaded as he ran down the earthen passage after Link, letting out an audible sigh of relief when the temperature cooled as he entered the Goron City. The secret passage let him out into the room that had previously belonged to Big Brother Darunia. Since the boss of the Gorons had become a sage, it sat empty. Of course, the room only had a few tables, some pots and a white fur rug to honor their leader, but Dark didn't care about that as he ran through.

Goron City was divided up into three main levels that connected via sets of stairs several different sets of stairs. Each floor above the bottom was a rough ring around the clearing in the center with passages branching off like the spokes of a wheel. In spite of its efficient concept though, in reality it was a rough city in the most literal sense of the word. The floors, walls, ceiling and stairs were all hacked from the rough mountain stone. Dark ran out into the middle of the plaza just in time to see a flash of red disappearing up a set of stairs.

Though Link wasn't that far away, it still took longer then it should have for Dark to reach the stairs, weaving unsteadily from the heat waves that still affected him. He stumbled his way up the stairs to a round balcony that overlooked the bottom floor. From here there was only one doorway to take so Dark struggled his way to it and up the stairs. They continued like this with Link always being barely in sight and Dark struggling to catch up all the way up to the top of the city and out the main entrance. Without all the twists and turns, Dark had a somewhat easier time catching up to his partner who was ignoring his calls and staring resolutely ahead even when the other fell in step beside him.

Outside in the fresh air and the cool evening breeze, Dark's vision finally started to return to normal. "Hey! Link, what's wrong with you! Hey, will you slow down!"

In spite of how Dark was trying to talk to him, Link never slowed down, leaving poor Dark struggling to keep stride with the taller boy's long strides.

"If you would like to go back and stay with the Great Fairy, by all means do so," Link growled. "I am sure you can find your own way back."

"Huh? What the hell are you so mad about!"

Back and forth they went, arguing all the way down the winding mountain road towards the town at the foot of the mountain. It was only moments before they were both screaming at each other and the monsters wisely stayed away.

"I get it now." Dark whispered incredulously right as the reached the outskirts of town "You're jealous, aren't you? Man, I don't believe it… You, jealous."

Link's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I am not jealous. I am insulted. I did not want any of this but I gave you a chance, yet the first opportunity you get, you drop me to throw your affection at someone else? Someone else who you hadn't even seen for an entire minute before you were drooling on the floor like a dog over a bone after you had the nerve to make me think I meant anything? Are you truly that shallow!"

Dark froze, stiffening up as he sucked air through his teeth. "Shallow? You call me shallow because I hope to get a little attention from someone because it's impossible to get from you? You ignore my advice and opinions, you don't talk to me or tell me what you're planning and after I go and risk my life to save your ungrateful hide, I didn't even get any thanks! Not one word!" Dark yelled. Though he was glaring at the ground, the way shudders wracked his pale frame and his voice, just on the edge of breaking spoke volumes about the sadness that threatened to overwhelm Dark as he turned and ran off into the village.

The roiling emotions of the two boy's as well as the heavy veil of clouds that covered the village weren't the only things ready to burst. Deep beneath the village, an ancient evil stirred, feeding on hatred and disappointment and all the other negative emotions hidden beneath the calm surface of the village, waiting… biding its time to burst out of its confinements and ravage the land once more.


	9. Hero's Greatest Fear

_**AN: I would like to give a huge thank you to my editor! Without her to help me out backstage, this wouldn't go nearly as smooth as it does. Also a big thanks to all my readers, as always. Some people write for themselves and don't care what other people think. Nothing wrong with that but I don't write for me, i do it for all of you! **_

_**Chapter 10 is in progress and i'll get it up ASAP. As of now, i don't think i have any side quests left , so a chapter each for the Well, Spirit and Shadow temples, Ganon's castle and one last chapter to tie it all up. That makes my best guess 14 chapters. HOWEVER! If i get enough reviews, i'll do a sequel. I've got the ideas and plotline, it'll just take some time to make sense of the snarled mess that is Majora's Mask. There's your motivion; Enjoy ~**_

Hero's Greatest Fear

It was raining… Dark always liked rain. It was a fitting reflection of the condition of his heart; he himself couldn't see what was out there because all the rain made it impossible to see. No thunder, no lightning, just a steady drizzling downpour of depression…exactly like the weather.

After their argument, Dark ran off to have some time by himself. He knew Link would have to spend time looking around town and asking about the Eye of Truth and to chance running into the Hero was not something he wanted to do., at least not yet… So, he went to one of the few places he was sure the Hero would never look. The top of the Windmill.

Last time they'd been in town, Dark helped a woman named Anju round up her pet chickens and one of them managed to get itself up onto a room next to the windmill. It was there that he noticed a passageway built into the side of the windmill starting a good twenty feet off the ground. All he could see of the passage was some stairs and a wooden peg. It had been built as an access hall for maintenance on the windmill if it was needed, but for the time being it would make a suitable hideout for Dark.

So, that's where he was headed. Jogging down the center of town, up the short flight of steps to the door of the Shooting Gallery, Dark didn't actually head inside, instead standing on the fence to get high enough to launch his Hookshot to the roof across the street and let it drag him over.

"Man. I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Dark muttered as he hit the roof. He was actually talking to himself so to have someone answer was a bit surprising.

"What was that? You'll have to speak up, I can't hear you" said a man who was already sitting on the roof. Dark frowned and walked over. The guy just looked like an ordinary villager. "Oh, I'm sorry sir, I didn't realize anyone else was up here."

The old man chucked, patting the spot next to him, "It's quite alright. Here, have a seat and keep an old man some company. Dark trotted over and flopped down, and for a while the two of them just stared up at the mountain in companionable silence.

"It's nice isn't it? Sometimes you just gotta get away from everything, take a breather, you know?" the old man asked. Dark nodded silently, sighing in the cool breeze that brushed across his skin. "You alright kid? You look troubled."

Dark sighed again, laying back to stare up into the sky at the ever darkening clouds. "Yeah just… I got into a fight with… someone important to me and…I'm not sure what's gonna happen."

"Yeah, that's life for you…but don't worry, it'll be alright in the end," the old man replied with a chuckle

"How do you know?"

"Well, its always alright in the end, so if it ain't alright then it ain't the end yet, is it?"

They went back to their companionable silence as Dark mulled those words over in his mind. Old people sure could be insightful sometimes. The old man sat up and stretched when the wind started picking up and scattering drops of rain across the roof. "Well, I'm headin' in. You best be off home too. And here, you can have this. Call it a memento of our time together."

With that, the old man was clambering down off his roof leaving a stunned Dark sitting there with a Heart Piece sitting in his hands. "Jeez. I thought these things were supposed to be hard to find so how come everyone and their mother has one?" Dark muttered. Though he complained about it, inside he really was grateful of the gift and tucked it carefully into one of his inside pockets before strolling to the edge of the roof and shooting the Hookshot up into the maintenance passage for the windmill. He made it up just in time as the clouds overheads finally burst, spilling a heavy downpour upon the town.

Curious now, Dark continued up the stairs, but they just spiraled up to a higher door that exited back out onto the mid air from which it came. Also, for some inexplicable reason, a chicken also occupied the highest point of maintenance passage. Dark sighed and slid to the floor, staring out into the pouring rain.

"I wonder what he's doing. That idiot is probably sitting someplace warm and dry and isn't worried about me at all. That's just how he is…the quest is all important." He sighed, draping an around the chicken who clucked sympathetically. Sitting there petting the Cuckoo was actually kinda nice in its own way. At least now he could see why someone like Anju would have them as pets.

"He just…why is he so dense! Tell me, Meggy, why! He's probably sitting off in some nice warm room over a bowl of soup and planning how he's gonna find that precious treasure of his. Why don't I matter?" he yelled, frustrated but not loud enough to startle his newly befriended bird.

Quite the opposite of what Dark predicted, Link was out in the rainstorm looking for his lost comrade, once more cursing his overactive imagination that gave him images of a poor, lost Dark lying face down in a gutter somewhere. Faced with that image of absolute helplessness, Link had no choice but to abandon his room at the inn and go out looking. It was hard going. The gusting wind pushed wall after wall of chill rain into his face. For half an hour he trudged through the rain, searching diligently despite the icy water biting into his skin and soaking his clothes, chilling the Hero to the bone. In spite of that, he stayed out. That same hero's virtue that so irked Dark was also what kept Link out and unwilling to stop looking.

The wind was finally starting to die down half an hour later. Dark had vented all his frustration to Meggy the chicken who was sharing the mysterious passage with him so he felt much better. After giving a farewell pat to his new friend, Dark strolled back down the short stretch of winding corridor and dropped the fifteen feet to the wet pavement below and on a whim turned right back around and entered the windmill.

As soon as he opened the door, what sounded like accordion music reached his ears along the slow and steady creak of the wheels of the windmill, forever turning and keeping their own track of time. The windmill itself was evidently not built to accommodate people since beyond the first few feet after the door, the entire floor was one giant spinning wooden wheel . Out of the center rose a single post that traveled up the windmill to connect to other cogs and gears to move the vanes outside.

The man there sat on a wooden step, angrily cranking away on the handle of a small wooden box. The handle seemed to turn a wide brass pipe on top that was the source of the music. "This is no place for kids!" the man growled.

Dark failed to take the hint, instead taking a seat on the cold stone floor. "Yeah. I wouldn't say this is much of a place for anyone so what're you doing here?" he asked, glancing around at the many spinning and dangerous mechanical parts that could easily crush something that got carelessly caught in them.

Sighing, the man set the music box down to tell his story…

"Long ago, there was an evil shadow spirit that ravaged our town. A powerful Sheikah warrior used a mystical eye to seal the spirit in the bottom of the well. Once the well was filled with water, the seal was complete and our village was safe. Then, seven years ago, a kid came to this windmill with a strange song. The mysterious song that he played on his ocarina called up a great storm. The rain poured down harder then we'd ever seen and the howling winds were so strong that they pushed the windmill, making it spin faster then it was ever supposed!"

A strange song? A boy with an ocarina seven years ago…that sounded like it might be familiar. Dark made a note to ask about it after the story was finished.

" The windmill is what regulates the well. Making it spin too fast emptied the water and unleashed the shadow beast back upon us. Since then, we've had misfortune after misfortune befall us and its all to blame on that kid! If I ever see him again…"

"Yeah but that doesn't explain what you're doing here now. Even if you do fill the well, isn't the creature already out?" Dark quickly interrupted. fearing that if left on his own, the man might develop a spontaneous case of rabies or something equally unpleasant.

"The creature makes its nest in the well. We sealed it up with dirt as best we could but water is the only thing that can seal it back inside and I am working on the song. I think if I can just figure out that song that the boy played I can fill the well again. I know I have the melody right, but I just can't seem to make it work."

Dark frowned, putting pieces together in his head. That might perhaps have been Link and if it was then he should already have the Eye of Truth… unless just because it was in the past didn't mean that it had been done yet, meaning that it was a past that hadn't actually happened affecting the present as if it did. A headache started pounding at Dark's temples for even attempting to sort it out. Why did time-space have to be so confusing!

"Maybe…you're using the wrong instrument?" Dark suggested, taking his own ocarina out. "I'm still learning how to play this thing, but you said you knew the melody? Maybe I can help?"

Nodding, he picked up his music box again. "I suppose. You know, come to think of it you look kind of like that kid, except that he was blond…had a blue ocarina too. Well, this is it. The Song of Storms!" And with that he started turning the crank on the music box. He started slow so Dark could hear the individual notes.

Of course, Dark was still just a beginner and knew nothing whatsoever about music so he had to blunder around for several minutes before he finally started getting close to figuring out a combination that sounded right. That was when the door opened to admit a dull-eyed, shivering Link. Dark jumped to his feet and ran over, horrified. Link's entire body was soaked and his tunic was practically plastered onto his body by hardened rain.

"So…is this where you have been…this entire time? Link panted out, clearly exhausted. At least upon seeing Dark his eyes lit up.

"Uhhhh…" Dark glanced up at the ceiling. "Kinda, I guess. But I found out a bunch of useful stuff! I think I know where the Eye of Truth is and I have a song to teach you and…what have you been doing?" Dark asked, taking in the Hero's muddy and disheveled appearance. Some sort of mud wrestling popped into his mind first. Perhaps some sort of battle skirmish. He hated missing out on those. Maybe he just had some sort of clumsy moment and tripped in the mud. That's just the sort of klutzy thing Link would -

"I was out looking for you. I got to thinking and… your complaints are valid so…I owe you an apology," Link murmured uneasily. He had the bad feeling that if Dark tried to flip this around to take advantage of the situation, it would end up in another argument, for he simply was not ready to give in, and if Dark didn't like that…there would almost certainly be a confrontation. However, they never got the chance to find out as the music box guru stepped up, staring at Link with unveiled hatred before running out the door.

Outside, the roofs of several houses had somehow spontaneously combusted and most the town was out, congregated around the well to whisper amongst themselves about how such a thing was possible after such torrential rain. That was when a voice cried out from atop the railing, "Everyone! The Ocarina boy is back! The one who unleashed the Phantom Shadow Beast on our town has returned, and look! More misfortune! A rainstorm that burns our houses! Who else could it be? But we won't stand for it this time, will we?"

The crowd below, muttering amongst themselves, went along with it, dispersing momentarily to grab any handy weapon. Within seconds a small mob had formed, wielding brooms, rakes or stout tree branches. Link and Dark came out a moment later and down the stairs towards the well. The air was charged with tension and all eyes were on the twin swordsmen as they walked through the middle of the crowd. Suddenly, the tension snapped as one of the villagers swung. The rake's wooden handle snapped across Link's back, sending the Hero sprawling face-first into the mud. The next one to make an attempt never made it down to the defenseless Hero; Dark was there, snarling and baring his fangs at the villagers.

"Look! Red eyes! It's a monster, they both are!" someone in the back yelled, getting all the other villagers brandishing their farm tools to beat the unholy spawn back to whatever dark pit they'd come from.

"The first person to lay a hand on him, I will, Din help me, rip their throat out with my teeth," Dark threatened, displaying his abnormally sharp canines. With fangs like those, it wasn't an empty threat. His jaws could snap bone if they wanted to.

"No Dark, don't hurt anyone." Link groaned, pushing himself off the ground enough to flip over onto his back.

"But they-"

"No buts, Dark. That is not how we do things."

Unbelievable. How it was that Link could defend the very people who were just about to bludgeon him to death was more then Dark could comprehend, especially as he lay there, obviously having difficulty just speaking. Stupid, stubborn, lovable Link. But then, that was what Dark admired most about him, and so he couldn't refuse.

"Fine. But if that's the case, you're just gonna have to trust me for once, ok?" Dark whispered in his ear. Link nodded but for what Dark had planned, it might not be enough.

"Listen up you backwater barbarians!" Dark yelled, making sure everyone could hear him, and by this time the entire village was present and holding some sort of makeshift weapon, arranged in a semi-circle around Link and Dark. Even the village children were present with a handful of rocks to throw, in fact one did, which Dark caught out of midair and chucked it right back, knocking the kid off the fence.

"I said listen," he growled. "We haven't done anything to deserve this. Is it village custom to beat the innocent travelers?"

"Don't listen to him? The boy was asking about the Eye the ancient Sheikah used to seal the Shadow Beast, as well as the song that undid the binding. He must be planning something terrible. Besides, don't you all recognize him!"

There were several murmured affirmations from among the group of villagers and they were starting to look violent. "Yeah. Plan B then. Bear with me ok?" Dark whispered as he dropped to his knees at Link's side and leaned the blond up enough to kiss him.

Link's eyes popped open at the feel of Dark's lips on his…again. For a second, he wondered whether Dark was going to try pulling some kind of pornographic stunt to scare everyone away. That would be a problem because Link really _would_ rather die then sacrifice his dignity just to escape the townspeople, and when he felt Dark's hand slide down his shirt, that's what he thought was going to happen, but wait…

Yes. Though it seemed Dark just wanted an excuse to feel up the blond, why then was he not actually touching him? No…it took him a moment to realize what was going on. The shadow was just using the kiss to cover the fact that he was _searching Link's pockets_.

The townsfolk reacted predictably, giving a collective horrified gasp as some of the mothers rushed off to cover their children's eyes. After all, they didn't want their youth corrupted by such foul and unholy acts as even considering the possibility of two men together. That was the last straw and a moment later Dark had several holes in him from the tines on a pitchfork. Only a quick grab held the thing back from turning Dark into a human shish kabob, but that was ok, he had what he was looking for. Dark tossed his prize of a brown leather pouch into the air, pushed the pitchfork out of his body and quickly hunched over, shielding both his and Link's eyes as their entire inventory of Deku nuts rained from the sky.

The flash of one Deku nut was blinding; thirty Deku nuts going off was like glaring at the sun. The last thing anyone in that mob saw was a brilliant flash of white and when it cleared and they could finally move again, the two boys were gone.

Not gone far however, since neither Link nor Dark was in any shape to run. Dark had picked Link up bridal-style and ran off up the stairs, through the shop and down the hole that was defended by the high fence and stone walls right outside the potion shop.

The bottom of this hole was nearly identical to that of the hole in the cliff side of Gerudo Canyon. A few shallow puddles of water rimmed the front of an otherwise small and dry cavern with short tufts of grass and a small treasure box in the back.

Dark gently lay his partner down in the grass and started trying to take his clothes off, but even in his frail condition, Link's grip was like a vice. "What do you think you're doing?" Link asked suspiciously.

"Oh c'mon, look at you. You're soaked, you're wet and you're shivering. Maybe taking off those wet clothes might help?"

Link muttered irritably but released his grip and let himself be stripped. He was honestly expecting Dark to take full advantage of the situation so he was surprised when, after getting his tunic off, he turned around to let the blond take off his breeches himself. Even more surprising was when Dark pulled his own tunic off and handed it back so Link would have something to cover himself with..

"There's a Heart Piece in my front left breast pocket. You should use it." Dark said quietly, keeping his back turned for the Hero's modesty. The entire time, he was screaming in his head _Don't turn around don't turn around don't turn around!_

Just as he said, a Heart Piece waited in Dark's pocket, which was more amazing since this was not the first time he'd pulled a stunt like this. Somehow or another, his partner seemed to have an uncanny ability to locate them.

Heart Pieces, though they were generally looked at as an extremely expensive kind of candy, were actually crystallized life essence and as he sat there, biting off pieces of the blue outer shell, Link could already feel his strength returning. Personally, he liked eating all the blue parts, leaving the small red center for last. The blue parts got sticky, melting after you held them for too long from the body heat. As much as he liked the syrupy sweet flavor, it was the inside and its sour kick that he really liked. And as he stared off into space while eating his candy, Link suddenly realized that the 'space' he was staring off into just happened to be the same space across Dark's uncovered back.

The boy really did have a nice body and that constantly pale tone of skin for some reason intrigued the blond. He'd never really considered himself tan, but Dark…he was less flesh and blood and more like moonlight shaped into the form of a person. That was of course until Dark turned around, displaying two deep holes between his ribs, like a bite from a giant snake.

"What did you do?" Link asked, reaching up to gently trace his fingers around the wounds. It was so like Dark to go off and do something reckless like -

"Eh, pitchfork, I think. Its not a big deal. Finish your Heart Piece."

"Yes mother," Link replied, smirking. "So, you said you'd learned something? What have you found out?"

"Ah, right. First off, I think the Eye of Truth is back in the past. The guy at the windmill said that seven years ago, a kid with a blue ocarina came by and played a mysterious song that emptied the well where the monster was sealed. I think that's why the townspeople got mad, 'cause you let the beast out of the well."

"But…I have not done anything like that." Link replied, confused. Even for the Hero of Time, the time-space continuum could be a very confusing thing.

"I know, but I think this means you're going to…so, it's a lead. Also I l…eh…"

Dark cut off, panting as he watched Link. He'd finished off the outer layer of the Heart Piece and was slowly sucking its sugary residue off his fingers, one by one. The action had Dark's pants feeling uncomfortably tight, and without the tail of his tunic hanging down to help hide his body's rebellion, there was little he could do about it. Damn, but why did he have to do things like that! Didn't he have any idea how that looked?

No, of course he didn't. The naiveté behind it was part of what made Link's unconscious sensuality so… sexy.

It only figured that Link would pick just then to open his eyes and tilt his head to the side. "Is something wrong? Your face is turning red."

Damn him for noticing things like that! It didn't help any that Link decided to wrap the tunic around his waist, rather then putting it on, leaving his chest exposed.

"I-I'm fine…I just…song! That's right, learned a song to play, lower the well…and stuff." Dark mumbled, reaching up to wipe the sheen of sweat from his forehead. His whole body was _on fire_ from having to deal with Link and how…_hot _he looked, laying there wearing nothing but a tunic around his waist and sucking sugar off his fingers. Link looked so innocent but so seductive at the same time and it was driving poor Dark crazy.

He grabbed his ocarina and brought it to his lips, slowly going over the finger positions in his head so he could get the song right. Link listened to the song just once before taking out the Ocarina of Time. He only had to play it twice before the distant crack of thunder told them that the song had worked.

"So… how does this all work? Is it the song or the instrument that makes it work?" Dark asked quickly, desperate for anything to keep his mind out of the gutter as much as possible. Not that that was going very well but he tried.

"Both actually. The true power is in the song. The Ocarina of Time just makes the song take effect quicker. You could make it rain if you played the Song of Storms enough times. And I wonder which of my tunics are the cleanest. I desperately need the opportunity to do laundry." Link grimaced distastefully, staring at the dirty pile of clothes in the corner. He did try to maintain a standard of cleanliness but the role of Hero of Time and the activities involved made that quite impossible sometimes.

"Nah, its fine. You can just take mine. You look hot in black anyways."

Link looked confused as he rubbed at the black fabric around his waist. "Yes… I suppose black does overheat easier. But being in the bottom of a well, that shouldn't be an issue."

Dark grinned, shaking his head. "You're cute when you get like that. But I meant you look hot as in sexy," he whispered, pouncing on the blond as well as his wounds would allow. The Heart Piece seemed to have done its job. Link was back to his normal pallor, for a moment at least, but having Dark sitting atop his mostly-nude form turned the Hero's face to nearly the same color as Dark's eyes.

"Why must you do this to me?" Link asked, knowing that yelling wouldn't be a good idea despite how much he wanted to.

Dark just smiled, curling up atop his Hero they way he did every night. The only difference was Link's lack of clothing, though oddly, it felt kind of nice, the way Dark's hair pooled like raven's feathers on his chest, barely there but still laying feather-light kisses on his skin.

His eyes were closed and Dark was obviously well on his way to sleep, but he had one last thing to say, something he wanted to get out, especially since tomorrow Link would be going to the one place Dark could not follow. The past.

"Why? I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. It's not all that hard, y'know."

Link honestly had no idea and when Dark didn't say anything for several minutes, Link assumed he'd fallen asleep when he whispered the answer; a taboo, for the Hero a pair of forbidden words that must never be spoken…but here they were, and they scared Link more then anything else on his entire journey.

"Love you."

Nothing scared Link as much as those two words. Nothing else came close.


	10. Hopeless

**_AN: I realized... i really like writing Authors notes. Today, i have alot to say. First, this chapter is the longest i've done so far and it is DARK. Most of my writing is inherantly light hearted. Not today. Also, i just finished up at 2 in the morning, my Beta abandoned me, said she needed "sleep." Pfft. So, i did the best i could on my own because i'm impatient and want to get my chapters up for you guys ASAP. Love you all. An extra special thank you to you people who reviewed for the first time, thank you so much! Now then, to answer questions. First, While this is the Well chapter, i cut that part out. It happes from Link's point of view, but this is mainly about Dark today. I did this for a few reasons; one it was getting a little too long and two, the well will be revisited later._**

**__**** Kitsune - Yes, Young Dark is a plan in the working. As for making it longer, i went over the story and i think i can make at least one extra chapter. Beyond that, i can't promise anything.**

**__**** Koreto - Kudos for getting it. Everyone else, it will be explained why Link is afraid. Soon. Not next chapter, one after that.**

**__****Zeldabeast - 3 am and you went through everything? I'm both happy that you enjoyed it that much and feel a little bad that i kept you up to some ungodly hour . So, you want a steamy sex scene huh? Yeah, you and everyone else i'm betting. I know what you guys are waiting for ~ Why do you think i've been so vague about stuff like that? I want you guys chomping at the bit for it. Maybe i'm a horrible person, but it'll be worth the wait, i promise.**

**__****_One last parting thought. Reviews are important! I started getting into it last chapter, but here i really started taking things into my own hands. Did i go overboard? Should i get more creative? I look forward to your thoughts. _**

Hopeless

Perhaps it was because of Anju but the people of Kakariko village could never sleep too late in the day; the battalion of Cuckoos that roamed the village would not allow it. By the time the echoes of every chicken in the village greeting the sun with their earsplitting calls reached the underground haven, Link was already awake and already dressed. His breeches had dried and just for kicks he decided to indulge Dark and wear the black tunic. Okay, maybe the fact that his other three outfits were all absolutely filthy had something to do with it. It really irritated him that he made a concerted effort to stay clean but all his clothes were filthy, while Dark, who didn't care at all managed to avoid any kind of noticeable mess. It must be one of those mean cosmic jokes that seemed to plague the Hero on a regular basis…

As for Dark, the incessant crowing woke him up and seeing Link dressed in black is what kept him up.

Both Link and Dark had the well toned bodies of swordsman, but Dark's muscle was more lean in comparison to the slab of rock that Link's abs seemed to be chiseled out of. In short, the blond was taller, wider in the shoulders and a broader of chest so the black tunic, originally meant for Dark and his smaller frame fit snugly over the Hero's body. Not only did it really show off his physique, but Link in black looked dangerous. Just the feel of the heavier fabric changed the way he held himself, changing the righteous blade master into a prowling jungle hunter.

And of course right from their opening, Dark's eyes were glued to the black clad Hero and the quiet whine in the back of his throat made Link turn and snort. His partner sat against the wall, red eyes wide and innocent like a puppy begging for a treat… although exactly what kind of treat he was hoping to get, Link didn't want to know.

"You look nice. Do I get a hug for lending you my clothes?" Dark whined, making every effort to look cute and unimposing to pull off that look of irresistible helplessness. He pulled off the look; Link resisted it. After all, as the Hero of Time, he had to be quick on his feet to learn the battle tactics of his opponents and devise a suitable counter strategy.

Dark was his partner and in this case that was a disadvantage. Not to mention, now that he knew where to go next, the quest took first priority. Poor Dark never stood a chance.

"I am leaving now. I will travel to the Temple of Time and return to the past to find the Eye of Truth. In the meantime, the villagers spoke of a Shadow Beast. The final temple is that of Shadow. It may be somewhere in the area, so if you could search for information about it..."

Dark opened his mouth to agree, his eyes glowing a cheery red.

"Carefully! Do not take unnecessary risks!"

Dark's mouth snapped shut as he crossed his arms with a long suffering sigh. "Jeez, take the fun out of everything." he muttered.

"I do not trust you to act on your own good judgment since you do not seem to have any. I feel the need to leave a detailed list of rules. Among which, Do not kill any humans, do not antagonize the villagers, try to avoid getting into fights and if you find it, do not _under any circumstances_ try going into the temple alone." Link listed off the rules in the order they came to mind rather then organizing by importance. Had they been prioritized, Dark's safety would have been first. The villagers attempting to burn him at the stake was a very real possibility, one that his shadowy counterpart failed to take seriously. Then again, aside from sex, what did Dark take seriously?

"Yes mother. " Dark grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I'll also be sure to feed the horse, practice my music lessons and do all my other chores like a good little boy." he mumbled sarcastically.

Link got down to give his partner a solid cuff on the shoulder but his voice was soft, "For Nayru's sake Dark, why must you be so difficult about everything? I should think you'd be thrilled to death to know I was worrying about you."

Wait a minute… Dark's mind, still fuzzy with sleep struggled to process the implications. Link was worried about him? For that matter, Link was showing emotion! That in itself was unusual. The almighty Hero of Time, great warrior and soon-to-be savior of the country showed about the same emotion as a rock. Ninety percent of the time anyways.

Actually, that wasn't quite right anymore. Dark did have to give credit when credit was due; recently Link had improved to the emotional level of a clay pot. True, it might not seem like a big improvement, but a clay pot at least had the possibility of storing a small sad and lonely heart in its hollows. Or bombs… hopefully not.

Now that Link was admitting to having feelings without needing to be spurred on by some dreary depressing conversation about how messed up his life was, Dark could start to nurture a small flame of hope. Link was making progress, Link was showing improvement, so maybe… just maybe Link the clay pot did indeed have a heart.

As soon as he realized that something important had just happened, all that flashed through Dark's mind in the span of two heartbeats, and on the third he pounced, slipping his arms around Link despite his earlier rejection to have the chance to feel his Hero one last time before they parted ways. "Yeah… You take care too. You're not the only one that worries y'know."

Link sighed, returning the embrace and he had to admit, it was kind of nice. The feel of soft skin over hard muscle, the feel of warm breath ghosting across his skin and the feel of Dark's heartbeat. The Hero had never had a chance to experience this before, never know this kind of affection and having someone warm to hold was definitely pleasant. "I know. I will be careful and return as soon as possible. If I promise that will you agree to what I asked of you?"

Dark nodded, slightly tightening his grip as Link took out the Ocarina of Time to play the Prelude of Light. The song had a bright, cheery feel to it, like rays of the sun. The golden sparkles from the warping spell came down to envelope the boy…

And then he was gone.

-D-A-R-K-

One minute he was laying atop the blond and the next he was collapsed on the ground as the physical presence supporting him vanished. Dark hissed in pain as he landed on the two scabbed over puncture wounds from where the pitchfork tines slipped between his ribs. Since Link was no longer around, there was no longer any need to keep up pretenses, allowing Dark to howl and scream and swear if that were what he wanted to do.

And he did. Truth be told, it didn't hurt all that much, but he just loved the opportunity to be overly dramatic. Sadly though, there wasn't much time for drama. After all, he didn't know how long Link would be gone and he should at least have accomplished something useful, right? So, for now he'd settle with solving the dilemma of what to wear.

Link had left him three tunics of red blue and green, and all were equally dirty. The red one was caked in mud and blood and smelled of stale sweat. Dark considered it for all of three seconds before tossing it aside. Definitely not going to wear that one.

Then there was blue, which was soaked in all the foul, stale water and monster excrement that the Water Temple had to offer. It smelled like home and that was more then enough to disqualify the blue tunic. Dark wrinkled his nose in disgust and threw it in the corner. That left green…. or nothing at all and nothing was starting to sound pretty appealing.

"Gah, why do I even need to wear a tunic at all!" Dark grumbled to himself, looking at his reflection in the pool of water at his feet. "I mean, I don't look all that bad. Actually, I'm pretty damn hot if I do say so myself. It's a travesty, a waste of perfectly good eye candy that the rest of the world is missing out on!" He asked his reflection… sadly though, it didn't answer back.

Sighing, Dark grabbed the forest green Kokiri Tunic and dropped it in the pool, breaking his reflection to scrub it as clean as he could manage. "Damn it Link, this is your fault! Stupid…. I'll be careful if you are. In fact, stupid paranoid backwater hicks and your stupid paranoid intolerant society!" he screamed, taking out his anger on the unsuspecting laundry.

Before too long, the green tunic was… at least moderately cleaner. It would have to do. Once it was more or less dry (again due to beating it) Dark pulled the green tunic over his head. It was a little on the big side, especially around the shoulders… that slightly irritated the boy. He was stronger then Link,that had already been determined so why in Din's name wouldn't he have bigger muscles! It must be another cruel joke of the Goddesses. He really was the taller one but they were messing with reality. Yeah, that must be it…. well, it made Dark feel better anyways.

Maybe it could be fixed with lots of working out in the meantime… but no. Sadly, there was too much work to do so he cinched his belt tighter and got ready to go. He was just about to leave when he noticed one last thing. One thing Link's outfit had that Dark's did not was a hat. For some reason, Link always insisted on wearing that goofy cone shaped hat… but since he was dressing like Link, he might as well do it right, so Dark grabbed his length of hair in the back, piled it up under the cap and stepped into the column of light to go to the surface..

Outside the sun was just starting to set and even though noon gad already come and gone, the ground was still muddy from yesterdays flood. There was only so much mud a person could take, and for Dark who never had to deal with anything more then wet sand, it wasn't very much. So, to avoid slogging through the streets, he instead used his Hookshot to take to the rooftops. Thankfully the roofs were open to much more sunlight and so not only dry but toasty warm.

He stalked, catlike across the rooftops just getting himself more familiar with the layout of the village layout. With the giant windmill to use as a constant reference point, it wasn't all that hard at all. It wasn't all that long before he found himself sitting on Anju's rooftop, or at least he assumed it was hers since that's where the Cuckoo pen was. Sure, why not? Since he was in the neighborhood, might as well pay Anju a visit. She was as good a starting point as anywhere and owed him a favor to boot. So, Dark slipped to the edge of the roof and dropped down to a small ledge over the pen where the chickens were sitting, clucking peacefully.

Dark had assumed that the little overhang was to give the chickens some shade on hot days, but part of the wall had collapsed or been cut out, leaving a small trapezoidal hole that led inside. Curious, Dark crawled through the hole.

The opening was high up, so he expected some dingy rat infested attic, not… a barred in jail cell in someone's kitchen. Looking around, the purpose for the cell was somewhat self explanatory from the cow standing placidly to the side. So, apparently this person really liked milk and didn't want the cow escaping? Understandable in an odd sort of way. What Dark didn't understand was the Heart Piece that also sat in the cage. "Really now? I think someone up there is messing with me" he grumbled, pocketing the Heart Piece to give to Link later.

A sudden scraping upstairs caught his attention. "Did you hear that. It sounds like someone is down there. Go check on the cow."

Shit. Feeling it was more then past time to go, Dark crawled back through the hole and was just out of sight when he heard "The Heart Piece is gone! Call everyone out, the thief can't have gone far!"

Ok, that was a good sign to panic. As soon as he was out, Dark whipped out his Hookshot and launched it at the closest roof. It latched on and hauled him to the next house. He clambered to the opposite side of the roof to make his escape… where the rotten wood of the roof collapsed beneath his weight, sending the boy tumbling into the dark insides of the house.

"Nngh. Ah, jeez, what happened?" he murmured groggily. His whole body was sore and it took a minute to check himself over, gently feeling along his bones and making sure nothing was broken. Lots of cuts and splinters but not breaks.

All around, it was dark and stale and dusty. What little light there was came down through the recently made hole in the ceiling only to be dampened by the huge cloud of dust stirred up by Dark's ungraceful entrance. That was when he heard it; a dry rustling like two of those stalchildren risen from the grave to wrestle. The eerie grating sound of bone scraping against bone bounced against the walls, filling the room. Then suddenly it was everywhere! A whole battalion of skeletons risen to dance to the beat of a necromantic symphony, twirling an spinning in some unholy dance that had Dark spinning in circles, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from or what kind of foul beast could make it. Through the thick clouds of dust and plaster, all he could see was vague silhouettes.

Slowly the dust cleared, showing the room to be full of giant semi human arachnids. Dark might of screamed; he wasn't really sure as he pulled himself backwards as seven of the giant spiders advanced on him. "What the hell am I doing, I have a sword!" Dark yelled, brandishing his weapon. "Back you devil spawn!"

"Wait, wait! Hold a moment. You have the tokens. Please, set us free!" The largest of the spiders asked. For a second, Dark resisted the urge to scream again. "Please! We can feel them on you. All we want are the tokens of the gold spiders of the curse that you've slain."

"Spiders of the curse? But I haven't….. Ohh… right." It suddenly occurred to Dark that Link neglected to empty his pockets before leaving. So, Dark decided to give these… things the benefit of the doubt and search through the voluminous expanse of Link's shirt.

"Let's see here, that's bombs…. Deku sticks… some kind of seeds, I don't even know… Aha!" Hidden back in one of the out of the way pockets was a leather bag full of skull tokens. "So, what do I do with these things?" he asked and the largest of the spiders moved back out of the way.

"One of you boys will go first. Simply take the spider tokens and throw them to someone."

Dark nodded, reached into the back and pulled out a handful of the small, flat skull tokens and tossed them one at a time at the leftmost arachnid. One by one they burst into azure flames, fading away into small puffs of ash, though the place was so dirty no one would notice. On the tenth token the blue flames caught, engulfing the creature with the sickening stench of burning flesh as the fire ripped across its body, consuming it. It's body parts fell off in chunks leaving an ordinary redhead teenage boy standing amidst the ash that was once a monster. "Aha! The curse is broken! Thank you so much. Here is a reward."

And of course, the boy handed him none other then a Heart Piece. Dark accepted the gift, trying very hard not to look ungrateful, but he was getting a little tired of the Goddesses making fun of him like this. Still… If he was gonna get rewarded, it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye open for the things. And come to think of it, his bag still had a fair number of tokens left.

"Please save my brothers" The young man pleaded but Dark just shrugged it off, digging out a handful of skulls.

"Yeah yeah, I'm working on it, gimme a second" he muttered then started tossing the skulls to the right most spider. As before, the small burst of magical fire that consumed dead monsters ignited each of the tokens on contact til the tenth one. Dark felt kind of bad to have to be the one to put these guys through this curse breaking thing. Yeah, being turned into a giant butt ugly spider would suck, but from the way it was shrieking and writhing around, magical immolation wasn't the most pleasant thing to go through. Dark could feel the heat from several feet away, and of course the resulting stench of charred flesh had him wrinkling his nose. but soon it was over.

"Thank you stranger, here is my gift!" the second young man said, holding out a small, irregular tan stone pyramid. Dark took the thing, turning it over curiously in his hands. The bottom two layers were rectangles while the top was a square.

"Uhm… Thanks. What does it do?" he asked, feeling kind of dumb.

"The Stone of Agony finds secrets for you"

Stone of Agony? Well… Now wasn't that just a lovely chipper name to give something? Dark tucked the stone into one of his pockets and flopped down on the ground, crossing his legs to stare up the remaining cursed villagers. "Alright guys. Thanks for the gifts but maybe you can help me with something else, yeah? You see, my…"

Dark hesitated, floundering around for a good work to describe Link with. Partner would be a good word to use, so would associate but he really felt like he was making progress with the blond. "… my boyfriend is looking for something called the Eye of Truth and he asked me to find out about the Shadow Temple while I was here. Do you guys know where this Temple thingy is?" he asked.

True, Link wasn't really his boyfriend, but he'd never find out that Dark had described him as such and it made him feel better.

Sadly though, this wasn't the reaction he was expecting. As soon as he mentioned the word "boyfriend" all members of the household started squirming around, anxiously whispering to each other. He didn't really know what they were saying, but he caught the word "abomination" a few times.

Great. Even the pathetic cursed spiders couldn't get off propriety. Dark looked down, discreetly counting the tokens left in his bag. Thirty three… that ought to be enough.

"A boyfriend? You know that having such a relationship with a member of your own gender is strictly prohibited. You… are a crime against nature. What are you doing engaging in shameless caste deception?" the, what Dark assumed was the father asked. Right on his heels the two uncursed boys piped up.

"Give us back our treasures!"

"Yeah, we don't need dogs like you getting them dirty."

Dark snorted, dropping the leather pouch back down his shirt. "I'll give you your crap when you give me back my spider tokens."

The boys stared at him, dumbfounded that a member of the lowest caste in their village, no, in the country would dare speak to the children of the richest man in the village in such a disrespectful way. Right now, he should have been on the ground begging and pleading for mercy. While Dark was indeed on the ground, he was just sitting there glaring and not prostrating himself as he should be.

"Listen up. I've had it up to here with you backwater pricks looking down on me. Now, normally I can't do anything about it because Link made me promise not to, but this time I can finally do something about it. You guys haven't learned anything from your punishment, have you? I bet you're still the same closed minded pricks you were and that's what got you cursed in the first place so you can stay that way for all I care. Have a nice life."

Two seconds later Dark was out the door and three seconds after that he was stalking across the roof across the street. And he was not happy. Why could not a single person in this whole damn country learn to see past their ridiculously swollen egos? All he really wanted was a little understanding, and while Link still wasn't quite to that phase yet, at least he was making an effort. Sighing, Dark hopped several more houses to the largest one and flopped down to lay on the sloping roof to stare up at the thick, fluffy white clouds that drifted across the sky.

At least out here it was a little easier to get himself perked back up. Better to be out in fresh air beneath the warm sunlight then in a dusty time ravaged house of the damned. The damned! Yet even they looked down on him…

Dark sniffed, then sniffed again. Something smelled good. Glancing around and sniffing for the source of the smell, he soon found that it came from a small metal pipe coming out of the roof, from which the smell of wood smoke and lunch lazily drifted up into the sky. Lunch both sounded and smelled like a very good idea.

The roof he sat on was actually the village inn. It stayed in business over the years, though all the rooms hadn't been used in a long time. Not many people traveled anymore; not since Ganondorf came to power and it became too dangerous. Dark crawled his way to the edge of the roof and peeked his head over the side, looking for an open window and slowly slid his legs off the edge so he was hanging off the edge. From there a few flexes of his legs and he swung himself through the open second story window. This room didn't seem to be taken by anyone but the innkeepers did come in to clean every week so the rooms didn't get dusty.

Grinning, Dark wondered how long he'd be able to mooch a stay here at the inn before he got caught. The rooms were nice and comfortable. The decorating was practical with nothing fancy. All in all, Dark's kind of place. He got to his knees by the door and pressed his ear to the floor to listen for the sound of footsteps outside. When he was convinced the coast was clear, he eased the door open and slipped out into a long hallway. His room was the second on the right and while an obvious set of stairs to the left lead down into the common room, Dark's nose led him the other way.

He liked the feeling of creeping down the hall, having to move quickly but not make any noise at the same time. It was good swordsman training. Hell, it was just plain fun. Down near the end of the hall was another set of stairs, presumably so the staff of the inn would be able to go about their business without disturbing any guests eating their meals… and speaking of meals, the back stairs seemed to lead down into the kitchens. Now that he was closer, he could also hear voices. At the bottom of the stairs, a door to the kitchen was slightly ajar so Dark could sit back on a step and listen in to the two girls talking in hushed tones over the food.

" Wow… those poor kids. I wonder how it happened." They both sounded young, but Dark couldn't see either of them through the crack.

"Well, the way I heard it, Liam and Kyle were both there and saw that red eyed devil do it, and Liam's father caught them trying it out later that night."

Red eyed devil? Dark blinked. How many other people could there be with red eyes who pissed off that many people? Even he had to admit it was probably safe to assume they were talking about him. But what could he have done to get someone in trouble?

"I wonder what they'll do about it…"

"He said they'll hold the sacrifice tonight at midnight."

"So soon? Well, I guess he does know best. Oh! Soup's done and the bread should be out in a minute. Would you get it for me?"

Dark sat back against the step, chewing his lip thoughtfully. A sacrifice tonight at midnight… He had a bad feeling about this, but it could go either way. Somehow though he just couldn't see these small town villagers as the type to engage in harmless rituals. Hopefully his fear would be unfounded or things would get really ugly really quickly.

It was hard to keep his dark and morbid fears in mind though as he listened to the clinking of glass bowls and small talk about how 'Oh, the soup smells delicious as always' and 'Oh no, I actually didn't have everything I needed' or 'It's been some odd weather we've been having, isn't it?"

It went on that way for several minutes before their talking faded into the distance as the kitchen girls carried trays of food out for everyone in the common room. Everyone out there would get a bowl of soup and a slice of warm bread, fresh out of the oven. Several minutes later, they both returned with empty trays when one of them frowned.

"Hmm? What is it?" her friend asked.

"I just thought we had more bread then this." The two shared a mutual shrug and got started on washing dishes.

Neither of them noticed the missing bowl as Dark slipped down the upstairs hall to the room he'd commandeered with his stolen prizes.

Back up in his room, Dark sat on the floor with a big contented grin on his face. Sure, she was just another superstitious backwater hick, but that girl could cook. He'd hacked off a generous hunk of bread to go with the soup. Thick and hearty with big chunks of beef, it tasted all the better because Dark hadn't had a proper home cooked meal… Ever.

More then just having food in his stomach, just something about the act of eating had a fortifying effect. Laying back on the floor next to him empty bowl and bread crumbs, it was easier to feel like he had a plan firmly established, and he did.

His first order of business was to slip down the hall three doors and unlatch the windows, then down the hall again to the room next to the back stairs and unlatch those windows. The final step in his grand plan was to shut the door, lay down and take a nap. While it may not have seemed to be the most brilliant battle plan of them all, Dark actually had things fairly well thought out. A mysterious ritual at Midnight could involve the Shadow Temple, in which case he'd want to be fully awake to tackle the situation. Plus he needed a nap. Fringe benefit.

Just like Link, Dark also knew how to tap into his internal clock that would allow him to wake up at whatever time he chose. He just normally chose not to. After all, how could he not like sleeping in, especially considering who he was always sleeping on. Since that was the only way he'd ever get Link underneath him, he had to enjoy it while he could.

As expected, when he opened his eyes, moonlight flooded into his room and Dark pushed the window open to clamber back up onto the roof. Sure, being able to bask in the warmth of sunlight was nice, but Dark was always more comfortable being bathed in the light of the moon. Slowly he moved up to the crest of the roof, peering over to look for signs of movement in the streets below. Off to the right, a small group of villagers carrying torches and leading two white hooded figures made a slow procession towards the windmill. At the same time, a single figure casually strolled through the main gates of the village and a single man bearing a pitchfork waited behind the first house in ambush of the approaching traveler.

Seeing this, Dark muttered a few choice swear words and leapt off the roof, rushing off once more to save the day.

-E-N-D-

Link paused next to the large tree at the entrance to Kakariko Village. Traversing the village in the dark was always a little bit unnerving but he really didn't give it any more thought then usual. Perhaps it was his recent victory that had Link's guard down but he didn't notice the single villager lying in wait. That tingling feeling in the back of his neck that normally warned of such things was already going off the same way it always did in towns at night.

Finally Link was in range in the man jumped, holding his pitchfork down to skewer the boy. Link looked up a second to late to block and he would have taken the hit were it not for the dark streak that shot off the roof to barrel into the man. It took a second for all this to register to Link's brain.

"Dark! Stop!" he hissed and not a moment to soon. Dark froze, his teeth already dripping with the man's blood. He'd only punctured the skin but he'd been only half a second from snapping his jaws shut and ending the life of the poor slob beneath him.

"Let him go." Link ordered but even on an order, Dark simply couldn't let the man walk away from this unharmed. He was far too upset for that so he curled his right hand into a fist and smashed his knuckles down into the man's nose, a grim smile gracing his lips as the villager's eyes rolled up into his head.

"Dark!" Link snapped, angry that this was his way of following orders but Dark just flashed his usual cocky grin.

"Alright, I'm done. I feel better now. Gah, Wait! C'mon, we got work to do!" he said, suddenly serious as he grabbed Link's hand and started running. "These villagers are doing some kind of weird ritual sacrifice and we have to get in there and do something!" He explained pulling Link towards the graveyard but he pulled his arm free.

"Wait a moment Dark. As much as you may not like it, we have no place antagonizing them further. Unless this ritual involves some kind of-"

"Kids. Two teenage boys." Dark whispered.

"I see your point. Lets go."

The two swordsman slipped silently through the stone archway near the windmill that lead back into the graveyard. The graveyard was basically a mound with the old gravekeeper's hut and memorial stone on the bottom and lines of small gravestones ascending to the crest of the hill where a large tombstone sat. It was there that the ritual was taking place. Following Link's lead, Dark slipped off to the side to crawl up the hill to approach behind the cover of the gravestones.

They arrived just in time to see the two gagged, bound and hooded boys dropped into a hole in the ground and a large grave stone; the largest one at the top of the hill was pushed by six burly farmers over the top of the hole. That was it. Once the gravestone was back in place, all the villagers present turned and made a slow procession back down to the village.

Dark was literally shaking in anger that these people could be so heartless to their fellow humans, especially in the current times. It was only Link's hand gently gripping his shoulder that kept Dark from blowing their cover. As soon as all the villagers were gone, Dark was up and pushing at the gravestone but the thing was not only huge but extremely heavy. Even with the two of them pushing together, there was still no way it would move but that didn't stop Dark from trying. "Nngh… C'mon Link… I need…. help!" he gasped out, straining against the grave.

Link on the other hand was just standing there with his hand gently resting against the cold smooth stone. Slowly, the golden triangle branded on the back of his hand began to glow with a gentle pulsing light.

"I see… Dark, move out of the way." Link said absently, his voice flat almost as though his speech was an after thought. At first Dark was dubious but he stood aside as instructed while Link took out the Ocarina of Time and brought it to his lips to play the melody of the Royal Family, or what he'd fondly come to know as Zelda's Lullaby. The gentle melody was indeed like a lullaby normally, but as its notes faded off into the distance, the heavy clouds overhead began to flash the fury of the heavens. Bolts of lightning rained down upon dark expanse of the graveyard, lighting it up clearly enough to read the faded inscriptions on the tombstones.

"Captain Riku?" Dark read. "Wonder who that w-ahh!"

A sudden final bolt of lighting struck the top of the hill, the force of its blast was so immense that the gravestone burst asunder. The shockwave threw Link off his feet and he would have made a hard landing had Dark not dove in to catch him. He also held his position, shielding his hero from the rain of stone shrapnel from the grave, wincing as several struck into his side hard enough to draw blood.

"Are you ….. alright?" Link started to ask, but Dark was already up and running to dive down the hole. "I suppose I can take that as a 'yes'" he muttered and climbed to his feet to go drop down the hole.

The crypt of the royal family guarded for years by the people of Kakariko was no longer the sacred place it once was. A narrow hallway lead down to a high ceiling chamber of rough carven black stone. The only signs that anyone had ever been down here was two unlit torches in the middle of the room and carved stone steps with ancient letters inlaid into it with a simple wooded door at the top. All around the chamber skeletons had been haphazardly tossed aside like so much trash. This was the defilement of the Royal Family at its worst. Or so they thought.

The two kids from the village were nowhere to be seen so Link and Dark leapt up the stairs into the next room and there they were, semi visible through the clouds of acrid green smoke that drifted up to burn the lungs of anyone breathing it. The path split left and right to go around a long rectangular pool of what looked like some kind of green acid that was billowing up clouds. Hidden behind the clouds of miasma, the children slowly walked towards what looked like abnormally tall nude men.

A chorus of low eerie moans echoed through the chamber, chilling all who heard it. Link snarled and dashed off to the left, violently shoving his charge out of the way. "Dark, get the other one** now**!" he screamed drawing his sword. Though he was running he suddenly froze, motionless for a moment as if some invisible force had him in its grip. Then slowly, as if moving through water, Link broke out of whatever was holding him to viciously hack the creature to pieces.

The sheer ferocity of his attacks was completely uncharacteristic of the Hero, who felt that a certain art should be applied to the wielding of a sword. Today however, he just swung as hard and fast as he could, hacking off its hands first, then the knees, head and finally slashing the trunk of its body into manageable pieces. The Hero stared down, panting as foul blue blood dripped off his sword and onto the dismembered zombie on the floor.

On the other side of the room, Dark heard the yell and stepped cautiously through the smoke, wincing as it burned his eyes. Keeping them shut as best he could, he followed his ears toward the sound of that inhuman moaning and what he saw when he got out of the smoke cloud was both shocking and repulsive enough to make him question attack, albeit briefly. The boys shirt had been shredded off and the person, which now that he could see it was less of a person and more of a wooden replica, leaned down over the boy.

Dark didn't know exactly what that thing was going to do to the kid and he didn't plan on finding out. Lunging forward, he grabbed the boy by the wrist and yanked him back out of danger. The kid went sprawling on the floor and when Dark turned back around to dispatch the monster, he understood just how this spell worked.

Terror. Staring up into the black empty soulless voids that were the only eyes this creature possessed reached down into the very center of Dark's being and froze it with sheer overwhelming terror. He wanted to run, to scream, to cry and cower in a corner but his body wouldn't respond at all. All he could do was watch helplessly as that emotionless wooden face slowly came towards him, its fetid breath reeking of mold and grave dirt and rotten flesh. That moaning was blocking out all other sounds, the kid screaming, Link yelling and the sizzling of acid; they all faded to insignificance before the immobilizing fear that gripped his heart and turned his legs to jelly. It was a plea, a cry to Dark to slake its only desire; hunger.

Dark's resolve was on the verge of crumbling when an arrow shot through the acidic air to bury itself in the Redead's shoulder. When the arrow hit it burst into flames along with the rest of the mummified creature. It stumbled back with a wail of pain, leaving an opening for Link to dash in and savage the Redead, impaling it through the chest and rending it limb from limb without the slightest shred of remorse.

"Dark! Dark, are you alright! Answer me!" Link screamed, shaking his partners abnormally pale frame, worry written all over his face.

"Y-yeah… j-j-just… go on ahead an… I'll catch up." Dark tucked himself into a ball in the corner, shivering.

"You just stay here. I will be back in a minute."

With that Link was off through the otherworldy fog of acid, leaving Dark in his corner to mentally berate himself. He was supposed to be the strong one! What happened? Why had he just frozen up like that? How could he be counted on to watch Links back if things like that could happen at any time in battle. He really would be a liability and that was not acceptable.

He kept up with putting himself down the entire time until the echoes of an Ocarina song that he hadn't yet heard reached his ears. Several shafts of sunlight came down from the ceiling, engulfing the Redeads that still waited out in the darkness. The light of the sun paralyzed them while slowly incinerating their magically incarnated bodies.

As soon as they were all gone, Link gathered Dark and the two children who were huddled next to each other in the opposite corner and got them staggering out of the crypt as fast as they could, all desperate to be back in fresh air again. Link was the last one to climb out of the hole and the sight that greeted him was not a pleasant one.

Most the village of Kakariko was up in flames. Several columns of smoke from burning buildings drifted up into the sky, attesting to the number that could be lost. The group of four went running towards the gates of the graveyard where Sheik waited.

"Dark, do you know Epona's Song?" Link asked. Dark nodded slowly. He'd heard Link play it enough times and it didn't sound all that hard. "Good. I want you to get these two out, load them onto Epona and she will take them back to Lonlon Ranch. Malon will take care of them until we come up with a more solid plan. It is no longer safe for them here."

Dark nodded and slipped off, with the two kids to fulfill his assignment. Sheik sat back, watching Link impassively. "He is dangerous, that one. You should be careful who you take assistance from." he murmured.

"I trust Dark, and you must trust me. It is my choice to make." Link replied evenly. "He cannot be any worse then what these villagers have done. Human sacrifice would be enough on its own, but necromancy and the defilement of the tomb of the Royal Family? Who now is more dangerous?"

"The people of the village are weak minded, grasping at anything that gives them hope. I agree with you, this is a problem that needs to be addressed, but… there are larger problems to deal with. The seal on the monster in the well is completely broken and it has escaped out into the world! Ibelieve Impa has gone to the Shadow Temple to seal it again, but...she will be in danger without any help.

Link, Impa is one of the six sages. Destroy the shadow spirit and save Impa!

There is an entrance to the Shadow Temple beneath the graveyard behind this village. The only thing I can do for you is teach you the song that will lead you to the Shadow temple.

This is the melody that will draw you into the infinite darkness that absorbs even time. Listen to this, the Nocturne of Shadow. "

As it had gone every other time, Sheik demonstrated the melody on his harp and they played together until Link had it memorized. He never could tell exactly how long they played but by the time he put his Ocarina away, Dark was leaned up against the wall of the Gravekeepers hut, listening.

"Let me take care of the village. Link, I'm counting on you." Sheik said, much more straight forward then his usual cryptic parting messages. He didn't disappear in a flash of light either, but calmly walked out towards the village. There would be a lot of cleaning up to do and wounded to see to.

Link was about to bring his Ocarina to his lips when Dark stopped him. "It can wait til tomorrow. First, we both need to get some rest and some good food and in know just the place. C'mon!"

To help out the village, Link played the Song of Storms, calling down a fierce rain that smothered that fires on the buildings. Through the dense downpour, no one would see the two as they clambered across the roofs to the Inn where Dark showed Link how to swing down through one of the sets of windows he'd left open. It turns out his foresight in opening a different set of windows was helpful. Since no one wanted to sleep at home, many villagers were rooming at the inn and the rooms filled up in order, so Dark, dropping into the room in the back made sure it was still vacant. Everyone was still eating anyways. Nothing like a supernatural disaster to get the appetite up.

Link sighed, stripping off his wet clothing and laying it out to dry. He climbed naked into the bed and pulled the thick quilt up to his waist when Dark slipped back into the room with two steaming bowls of stew. He set them down then locked and latched the door and frowned as he stripped also.

True, Link knew what a flirt Dark could be in compromising situations, but he also noticed that the boy would only do so under certain circumstances, and these were not it. Back in the cavern beneath the potion shop, he'd respected Link's modesty so the least he could do was return the favor. They ate in silence, neither wanting to mention the horrible things that had gone one since they arrived. Once their dinner was finished, Dark curled up to lay on the floor, still in his wet leggings out of respect for his partner, but Link sighed.

"You should… get out of those wet things. I would not want you getting sick. And…" he took a deep breath "It would also be best if you slept up here." he finished, blushing crimson as Dark just stared. Link was… naked, laying in bed and telling Dark to get in next to him! He knew that it was a fully legitimate suggestion but still.

"It… there are more important things then modesty and bruised pride." Link muttered, scooting over to make room. Dark nodded, kicking off his leggings and drying off as best he could before slipping in next to his partner. Link felt horribly awkward but under the circumstances, had he not allowed it he'd feel worse about himself. Of course he wasn't surprised when Dark insisted on cuddling up next to him. That's just the kind of person he was. And so the two got what sleep they could in preparation for the upcoming battle.


	11. Descent into Darkness

**_AN: I still don't own anything... but pretty good ideas, right? Well my lovely readers this chapter is my crown jewel so far. Beware, like last time this chapter is not for the faint of heart since i gave myself nightmares writing it... though listening to the Shadow Temple theme on repeat for hours on end didn't help. Anyways, a word of caution. This chapter is enormous. Really. My usual chapter is roughly 8 pages in length. This one is 20. Its worth it though. One last order of business, as per Kitsune's request i can indeed make this longer -20 chapters- but that will also delay the moment you're all waiting for. Which do you prefer? If i can write a long chapter, you guys can give me long reviews. They make me so happy, you have no idea._**

Descent into Darkness

Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe it was just him expecting to be up earlier then needed. Maybe it was a testament to just how tired the Hero really was. Whatever the reason, as Dark's eyelids slowly fluttered open, he saw that Link was still sleeping. That had never happened before. Every other day Dark woke to find Link already up, dressed and waiting for him, _if_ they had the luxury of waiting. If not, he'd wake to a gentle shake, Link's way of telling him to get up.

Today, however, Link was still sleeping, sprawled on the bed with Dark laying atop him as always. And they were both naked. Dark flushed as that realization dawned on him and he rolled onto his stomach to attempt to prevent…he couldn't tell if it was normal morning wood or knowing that Link had absolutely no clothes on. Once he was safely out of range, Dark sat back to enjoy the view. It really was nice for once to be able to just lay back and stare at the object of his affection without fear of being caught. Sadly, he normally had to be careful of that because getting caught would lead to being scolded for being rude by his blushing and stammering partner.

Dark really didn't get what the problem was. He was just appreciating something naturally beautiful. He did the exact same thing with Lake Hylia and the setting sun. After all, the Goddesses made their creations to be beautiful and Dark was simply enjoying the fruit of all their hard work. As he saw it, it'd be rude not to stare, but sadly Link didn't agree with his line of reasoning.

_I wonder how long they spent on him_, Dark wondered idly to himself. Tracing his fingers along Link's bicept, he suddenly got the mental image of the image of the Three Golden Goddesses who created the world, painstakingly going over Link's ever detail to make absolutely sure everything was perfect. _And boy did they ever hit the mark_, he thought appreciatively, sending a silent prayer of thanks to the heavenly beings that not only created this god among men, but also saw fit to give Dark the privilege of being his partner and hopefully more.

He loved watching everything, from the gentle rise and fall of Link's chest as he slept to the way his hair fell across his face. He loved everything about it. Though he knew taking advantage of the situation would result in his getting scolded again, he just couldn't resist the urge to do something. It didn't have to be very big, just to commemorate all the progress he'd made. So, Dark leaned down to place a gentle kiss against the blond's collarbone.

"Dark, what are you doing?" Link mumbled, sounding more curious then angry. The feeling of hair brushing lightly across his skin was what woke the Hero from his slumber. Being slightly ticklish didn't help any.

"Mmm, Morning beautiful. I was just admiring your amazing body and appreciating all the hard work the Goddesses put into you. You really are gorgeous, y'know that?" Dark grinned, only half teasing as he twirled a strand of his black hair around his finger.

"You what!" Link yelled, instantly blushing from having misinterpreted Dark's playful teasing. Seeing Link pull against the wall, holding the thick down quilt tight against his body and flushing indignantly, Dark couldn't help but laugh. Link brought his leg back to kick Dark out of the bed but the ebon-haired swordsman was putting up a valiant fight to stay in.

Sadly, the lighthearted moment between the two boys was interrupted as the Inn's cleaning maid burst right on in to the room that was supposed to have still been vacant. She stared, shock written all across her face, keys in one hand and a feather duster in the other. The room was supposed to be empty so two men wrestling around in bed was the last thing she expected to find. Of course, suddenly looking up and shifting his focus off their game, Dark's balance failed him and he tumbled out of bed, still stark naked. And rolling around in the nude with Link had his soldier standing at attention.

Of course, seeing that and making the inference about what had been going on, she spun on her heel and ran back down the hall, screaming for the innkeeper. Link just sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair as he climbed out of bed to gather his clothes while Dark did the same.

He really couldn't help the sheepish grin on his face, but the appreciative whistle as Link stood up to display himself in all his glory was all Dark's doing. The gold-haired hero blushed again, but did nothing to hide himself though he did chuck a boot at his partner. "This is neither the time nor the place for that Dark. I think we should leave."

"Yeah, but you gotta admit, the look on her face was priceless," Dark snickered, and even Link felt a smile tugging at his lips. The boy's enthusiasm was infectious and soon they were both grinning as they dropped out the window to run through the alleyways around the inn while trying to pull their clothes on.

When they finally stopped about a block away in a small park with a few shady oak trees ringing a cobble stoned plaza and no one around, the Hero and his shadow were dressed opposite; Link in a black tunic but no pants and Dark in breeches but no tunic. "Wow…that was kinda fun, wasn't it?" Dark asked in between laughing and gasping for breath.

"Yes, I suppose it was," Link agreed, matching his grin. Though opposite appearance in many things, one thing the boys shared was an identical smile.

Though he didn't have any pants, the tail of his tunic was long enough to cover anything of interest. Still, his habitual blush reaction kicked in as Dark stepped up and pulled him into a loose embrace. "I like seeing you like this," Dark murmured.

"Like what?" Link asked curiously. He really didn't see a whole lot of difference from how he normally acted.

"Smiling. You really do need to take some time out for yourself once in a while. You need a break."

Link sighed, weakening under Dark's earnest gaze. "But I can't. There isn't time for that and I have a country in peril that needs saving and Temples to clear. Too many people need me to keep working," Link argued, trying to stay focused on his job. Dark's pleading stare was making it hard. Somewhere along the line he'd learned to masterfully wield what was commonly known as the "puppy dog look."

"Please Link? The world has been in dire peril for the last seven years. Two days isn't gonna hurt anything and you need a break. You need time to relax and unwind or you can't do your job effectively," Dark whispered coaxingly. Link found himself wondering why the boy had to make so much sense.

"I…I can't. Ganon grows stronger by the day. We don't know when he'll finally strike. Would you really risk all of Hyrule for my wellbeing?"

"Yes," Dark answered immediately. No hesitation at all. "I don't know the rest of Hyrule. They aren't the ones who gave me a life and a reason to live it. They aren't the ones who fought by my side and they sure as hell never lifted a finger to help you out. Honestly, the weakness of people who won't even stand up for themselves disgusts me," Dark sighed, shaking his head. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why Link was so determined to do this.

"That is not fair Dark," Link replied, shaking his head. "Some people are weak, yes. They do not have the strength to stand up for themselves and that is why I am here. I am the one who protects those who cannot fight. Would you have the women and children left to fend for themselves?"

Dark groaned, rubbing his hands through his hair. "That's not what I mean! I get what you're saying, I really do but…there's a difference between the people who can't fight and those who just won't do anything! Even the people who aren't strong enough to come out and physically back you up on the battlefield, you think they can't help out in other ways? They can. They just choose not to, and that is what I don't like. That's why I won't forgive them." Dark frowned, looking around the village with thinly-veiled vehemence. "It's…not fair how everyone shoves all the responsibility on you, but when push comes to shove their problems are suddenly all your fault? That just isn't right."

Once again, he had everything all thought out. Dark may have seemed like a fairly simple person but he had his arguments figured out. Every single time he went off like this, Link looked but his points were practically airtight.

"Well…if that is how you really feel, then why are you on this journey?" Link asked seriously. He was past the point of questioning his partners loyalty or motivations, but he still wanted to know. This was one of those rare times when he might be able to actually learn something about the side of Dark that was kept hidden; the shadow of a shadow. That was the part that fascinated him.

"I'm along on this quest because it's important to you and for no other reason," Dark replied, once again without hesitation. Admittedly, it was a slightly odd place to have an argument but whenever it needed to happen, it happened.

Link was off balance, teetering on the brink of giving in. Dark was monitoring the entire process. After all, as many skills as the Hero possessed, hiding his feelings wasn't one of them. In fact, Link was an open book, which could be a little disconcerting because back in the beginning and sometimes even still, he was an open book with blank pages. Still, with much practice, Dark was getting the hang of reading his partner's mood and he shamelessly used that skill to get what he wanted. It would only take a little push…

Though it always irritated him that Link was taller, in this case being shorter actually helped. He could stare up into Link's eyes and stick his bottom lip out, adopting a look of helpless innocence. Helpless tugged at the Hero's heartstrings and after enduring as much of the look as he could take, Link finally caved in.

"Fine. We are both…well…_supposed_ to be adults. We can compromise, can we not?"

Dark nodded warily, already smelling the catch that was on its way.

Seeing his nod, Link continued, "I will take a short rest, but the Shadow Temple comes first. Can you agree to that?"

Dark blinked, slightly taken aback. "First? Why can't we go on vacation now?"

"You recall how you said that you wouldn't forgive the people of Hyrule for their treatment of me."

Another wary nod.

"It is somewhat like that. The matter is of a personal nature."

Dark nodded, noting the sudden hard edge to Link's voice and wisely decided not to try and get more information. After all, he kept things to himself, so he'd also give Link a little space when he needed it.

"I can agree to that, also with conditions." This time it was Link's turn to wince. Of course there would be counter conditions. "We take this Temple together. I'm not putting up with your bullshit from last time. You need to trust me enough to have me there to watch your back." Dark shot back, scowling. The little incident back at the Gerudo's Fortress still had him a little upset.

Link bit his lip, torn between whether to agree or not. "I am not convinced that would be a wise idea. As far as I can tell, the Well seven years ago is actually a secluded section of the Shadow Temple and there were several Redeads; the creatures from the Royal Tomb. Dark, I saw how you handled yourself last time. You succumbed to the spell of fear the same as everyone else. It is likely they will be in the Shadow Temple as well and in numbers," Link quietly explained. He didn't want to be mean but he also didn't want to needlessly endanger his partner.

Dark didn't see it that way, however. He grit his teeth, thinking Link was throwing his failures back up in his face to keep him out of the temple.

"I'm going in. That's all there is to it," Dark stated simply.

Link just sighed and nodded, not having the will to argue anymore. "Fine. Then I need one more thing from you."

"Yeah?"

"My pants."

Dark looked down at the bundle of their belongings tucked under his arm and grinned. "I don't know if I can agree to that. I think we can 'compromise' though. As you say, we're both supposed to be adults and I know a few nice ways adults pass the time," Dark said with a taunting leer, holding Link's pants just out of arm's reach.

"I do not have time for this," Link muttered and Dark flashed another grin, thinking that his wonderfully stubborn partner would forego the other half of his outfit and go to the temple as he was. So, he was caught off-guard when then blond suddenly turned and tackled him, struggling with the boy to stay on top. Of course Dark was laughing too hard to fight back. It was amazing, Link had a feisty side!

A moment later Link was lacing up his breeches while his partner was torn between wanting to pout and still being amazed at witnessing such a miracle. It got him thinking. What if he wasn't the only one holding himself back? What if that…'stuffy language', as he called it and all the other abnormal attributes that Link possessed that a normal kid wouldn't were more self imposed then his actual personality? The possibilities and all they implied were too much for him to wrap his head around all at once, but one thing was for sure. It wasn't impossible.

Something hard and green smacked against Dark's forehead, startling him out of his conjecturing. Looking down, he saw it was a rupee in the smallest denomination. Why was Link throwing money at him?

"You suddenly got this serious expression. Rupee for your thoughts?" Link asked with a nod down at the green gem in his hands.

Dark snorted and tossed it back. "Cute, but no. My thoughts aren't that cheap," he said, pulling his, or rather Link's tunic on. They dressed in silence, pulling on the other bits and pieces of their respective outfits; boots, gloves, belts and a hat for Dark.

"Do you remember the song?" Link asked, strolling over to sit on a wooden bench and taking out his Ocarina with Dark right behind him.

Shaking his head, the other boy took out his own Ocarina, following along as best he could while Link slowly went over the notes, correcting Dark's fingering when necessary. Just through rote memorization he had it down in about ten minutes and together they played the Nocturne of Shadow. The low, dismal notes that represented the infinite darkness of its corresponding temple echoed throughout the town, casting a pall of depression over all who heard it.

Seconds later they were gone, carried along by the power of the warping spell to be deposited on the hexagonal stone platform bearing the image of the Triforce that marked the entrance to all the temples. Before them lay a set of stairs descending into the mountain but Link turned around to lean over a shoulder high wooden fence and look down. The graveyard spread out below with what was once the marker for the Tomb of the Royal Family directly below them.

"Hmm. I wonder if the tomb itself is also a part of the temple. If that is the case, there might be…"

"Hey! C'mere and take a look at this!" Dark's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and Link turned to descend the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, a small raised pedestal was surrounded by unlit torches before a giant stone slab of a door bearing the mark of the Sheikah eye. "The temple seems to have been sealed due to its dangerous nature, but the monster sealed inside must have found cracks in it," Link murmured, mounting the pedestal.

"Yeah? What about it?"

Link raised his eyebrows, "Just look at what it's managed to do with the influence it could slip through cracks in the seal. Imagine what could happen if break the seal…I suppose it can't be helped, just consider yourself warned. Now move back please."

Dark shrugged and took a few steps back. Rolling his eyes Link hopped down, grabbed Dark's shoulders and pushed, walking the boy backwards halfway up the stairs. Snorting, he sat down on the step to get a better view. Of course this would be one of the times Link was gonna do something impressive and the stupid ceiling would be in the way. Surreptitiously he scooted down a few steps for a better view.

Standing atop the pedestal once more, Link shut his eyes and reached deep down inside himself for the pool of magical power that existed at the center of his being. He tapped that power, drawing it up and making it almost tangible as he brought his hands back.

_Goddess of Creation, heed my call as I pay respects and request the gift of flames_.

His prayer complete, Link slammed the palm of his hand down into the pedestal and a globe of fire engulfed his body, slowly growing larger and larger til the heat had Dark shielding his eyes. When the fiery dome dissipated, all the torches were lit and his partner was giving the 'come hither' gesture as the stone slab door rose up into the ceiling.

"Link! Are my eyebrows still there?" Dark yelled in mock horror, running down to the stairs to grab Link's shoulders. "Tell me they're still there!"

It was so ridiculous Link couldn't help but laugh and give his friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Yes Dark, they are still there," and with a light hearted smile, they walked through the door into the eternal darkness.

Inside, a narrow corridor extended only a short while before the floor fell away into t pit that neither could see the bottom of. It was too far to jump and the only way across seemed to be a black and white target, similar to those in the Water Temple.

"Hookshot?" Dark asked tentatively, looking over at the target for it. He wasn't hesitant to go in but there wasn't a target for returning. Link nodded, pulled out his Hookshot and sent it rocketing across to latch onto the target and yank him over the bottomless pit to catch the ledge on the other side. It wasn't a hard maneuver but it also wasn't a place to get careless.

Next, Dark got out his Hookshot and hit to button. The hook shot out, stopped half way and retracted back in. "Sonofabitch!" he growled under his breath so Link wouldn't berate him for his language. "It's too short!" he then yelled across the chasm and waiting for Link to toss him the extended Hookshot.

"Well. That was fun," Link said with a lopsided smile when they were both across. His partner just grumbled irritably as they walked. Again, it was only a short walk before the corridor changed again, widening out into a large room with a statue of a grotesque looking bird with a long beak; the kind as might be seen scavenging corpses. A ring of human skulls mounted on poles ringed the statue. This room also had a chasm; the far side had no floor but a big grinning face sticking out its tongue and that seemed to be the forward path. A gate sat on the tongue to prevent access to the throat.

"That's…kinda gross looking," Dark murmured uneasily, staring at the face on the far wall. To proceed they'd essentially have to get eaten; not a prospect he was particularly looking forward to, even if it was just a statue.

"Don't worry Dark, I think it is meant to be taken symbolically," Link said in an oddly chipper tone of voice.

"Are you sure about that?"

"No." But Link smiled again, then turned to study the statue, muttering under his breath about some 'Skull of Truth' or another. What was with this place and everything being about 'Truth' for every situation. There was a Lens of Truth, an Eye of Truth, and now a Skull of Truth? Dark half expected the boss to be the host of some kind of trivia contest.

While Link studied the statue Dark had nothing to do, so he just stood there blade ready and on guard for an ambush. Normally he'd just mess around to waste time but this place had him on edge and he was determined not to drop his guard. He knew that the moment he did, that's when disaster would strike. Still, it was a little interesting watching Link try turning that statue by himself.

"Need some help with that?"

Link nodded and pointed to one of the skull posts. "Yes please. We need to get the beak facing that pole to advance."

Dark shrugged and went around to lend his strength. The two boys set their shoulders, braced their feet against the ground and shoved. Slowly, very slowly the statue started turning, though it was slow and jerky. Apparently the villagers who came down here to do these sacrifices neglected to keep the machine well oiled. It was hard work forcing the statue to turn, scraping against the stone floor and making a high pitched shrieking sound.

Finally though, they had the bird statue facing the skull Link indicated and the gate in the statue's mouth opened. "Behold, the gate to damnation opens," Dark muttered dryly but Link had his head cocked to the side, listening to some ancient voice that only he could hear.

"I see. That way!" Link chirped, pointing to an empty corner. "Come Dark, there are treasures to find!"

"Uhm. I dunno what's got you feeling so… Link?"

Dark swallowed his rising apprehension. The boy he'd just been talking to had somehow vanished, and he'd only looked away for half a second! Slowly, timidly he walked into the corner of the room where Link had pointed, looking around for some sign of him. Suddenly, a hand reached out of the wall and grabbed him. He screamed and nearly jumped out of his boots when Link stepped out of the wall, laughing hysterically.

"Bastard, don't scare me like that!" Dark yelled, but the blond didn't even try to hide his laughter as he slide to the ground, holding his stomach.

"I am sorry Dark, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. Besides, you said you liked my smile, did you not? Then this should be a worthwhile sacrifice."

Dark's jaw dropped. Not only was Link teasing him, but Dark was the one who sounded like a prude. Goddesses, that was a scary thought. On the other hand it was also kind of endearing. It had taken a long time but Link was finally starting to open up. He was grateful for the opportunity, he really was but…why did it have to happen in a place like this?

Dark grumbled and punched Link's shoulder. Not too hard, but he wasn't gentle either. The blond took his hand and lead him through the wall. It looked like solid brick but they stepped right through and turning around, he saw that he could see out into the main room just fine. The wall itself was just an illusion to cover this little nook and the door it held.

"Link, this place is creepy so why are you so damn chipper all of a sudden?" Dark grumbled as Link opened the door and held it open with a gentleman's air. It lead out into a kind of catacombs area, with small cubbyholes that held skulls placed in vertical rows along the walls. It was creeping the hell out of Dark but Link shrugged, seeming not to mind as he surveyed the room through a lens. It had three purple spikes along the top and a purple handle holding a red and a blue lens together.

"To be honest, I am not entirely sure. I suppose that when I am in a temple, I feel that I am fulfilling my duty. These are the only places where I really feel that I am accomplishing my mission. Ah, one moment, it is only a box." Link vanished into the wall again.

He emerged a few seconds later holding a small key and they continued walking. "Do you hear that?" Dark asked, perking his ears up to try and catch faint whispers on the wind. Any answer he was about to get was interrupted by two seemingly normal clay pots rising off the ground to hurl themselves at the intruders.

Link pulled his sword and smashed the jar with a single downward stroke, though being that his opponent was made of fired clay, a one hit kill didn't mean a whole lot. Dark on the other hand simply raised his right foot off the ground and let the pot commit suicide against the heel of his heavy leather boot.

"Hey, money!" Dark exclaimed, pouncing on the blue crystal that dropped from the shattered remnants of the pot. "Now where was I…lost my train of thought…oh! What are they saying?"

Among the whispers of voices it was hard to pick out the words. "It is difficult to say. The spirits are not talking in modern Hylian. This is an older dialect but it still sounds familiar somehow." Link frowned, dredging up memories from years and years ago. Memories from a past life.

Though shadowy and faded, he could remember bits and pieces of what Hyrule was like while it was still being settled. There had been temples then as well. Compared to modern temples, they might have been more accurately described as dungeons but still.

"I…believe they are talking about what our country has been through. _The dark and bloodstained history of Hyrule, filled with greed and…" _Link groaned and trailed off. "It gives me a headache. Suffice it to say, it is not pleasant."

"Really now? I figured this temple would be all sunshine and rainbow ponies," Dark drawled sarcastically.

Link snorted. "You are the one who insisted on coming. If it is too much for you to handle, you could always just sit in the main room and wait for me."

Dark shivered. Mainly just because the idea of having to be in this temple alone was the absolute last thing he wanted to do. The only reason it was even remotely tolerable was because Link was nearby. "No, no, it's not too much for me. I just figured I'd do my part and keep the mood light by playing the plucky comic relief."

"Door." Link took a sudden turn and vanished into the wall again. Right level with where his had had gone, a skull was sitting in its little cubbyhole, staring out at him. Taking a steadying breath, Dark stepped through the illusion. Even though he knew they were there, he just couldn't get used to walking through walls.

Once both boys stood before it, the door opened and they yelled as a strange force pulled them inside then shut the door and barred it behind them. A sudden low, desperate moan reached his ears and Dark tensed up as terror gripped his spine. Two Redeads sat hunched over on the ground in the middle of the room, arms wrapped around themselves as if they felt some phantom chill that only the undead could feel. The air here was clearer and the haunting moans so loud, they were only a few steps away. Link froze along with the boy next to him for this was definitely dangerous territory. While dangerous though, he didn't think they were all that intelligent.

"Make no sudden moves," Link whispered, ever so slowly reaching for the hilt of his blade and hoping that the zombies hadn't noticed them. Dark just stared. He'd felt their spell before so he knew what to expect and he followed the directions, standing statue-like as he waited for a plan. While he waited, Dark kept a close eye on the monsters. Strange how their bodies looked grainy, almost wooden. He could almost imagine their faces as just masks on magically manipulated puppets. It got him wondering what was behind those masks…

In the end, his stillness didn't matter. All it took was for the Redead to raises its head to meet his eyes and he was helpless. A scream echoed through his mind and Dark was frozen. Even though he'd felt this before and could think about it rationally, it didn't do anything to help him.

_C'mon, work. Move, damn it, Move!_ he screamed at his leaden body, struggling to get so much as a finger to twitch. It worked, in a manner of speaking. He could get small body movement if he really focused but even still, he was helpless to do anything as he watched the Redead stand, stretching its abnormally tall and thin body like that of a resurrected giant who had died of starvation. Everything about it was hollow and sunken in, screaming of a life of pain and abuse that ended in a lonely and torturous death.

"Dark, move! Dark!" Link yelled, but he knew from the glazed over look in his friend's eyes that his cries were futile. It was only a few feet away to begin with and the clack of it's footsteps moving closer as it's moans intensified from having living breathing prey so close had Dark beyond terror.

Snarling, Link leapt towards it, ripping the Master Sword out and going straight into an attack. Right from the sheath, his blade slashed diagonally through the Redead's shrunken wooden arm and then back slashed through its neck. Both arm and head dropped to the ground in thick globs of blue blood. Link didn't stop there though, hacking and slashing the thing until it was a pile of gooey pieces on the ground. That was how he always did it. No other way to slay a Redead then complete dismemberment.

With the spell broken, Dark could move again but he didn't have the time to scream a warning as the other Redead pounced on the blond from behind, wrapping its dull, lifeless fingers around his neck, legs around his waist and mouth going to his neck. Link's sword fell from his suddenly numb fingers as the strength to fight vanished from his body. The keening moans changed, going from that of an unsatisfied hunger to… pleasure? It both looked and sounded like the thing was raping Link.

Half a second later the tip of Dark's black blade was slicing down through the thin arm that had such a tight grip over the Hero's throat. He only hesitated briefly as he checked his aim before swinging his blade and decapitating the monster.

Even unattached to its body, both of the Redead's severed limbs continued to drain the life from their prey. Not only that, but the trunk of its body was secreting that blue ooze that he'd thought was blood and slowly re-attracted the severed ends of its arm and head. Dark slashed through the other arm, grabbed the trunk of its body and rammed his sword through its chest, pinning it to the ground as he took the fingers around Link's neck and snapped them like twigs, throwing the disgusting thing away.

He noticed as he broke the fingers on its other hand that it sounded like bone breaking. just like when he slashed through the Redead he could feel the resistance of muscle and sinew in it. Maybe it had been a person at some point in time but Dark didn't have time to care about that. He was too busy saving Link as he grabbed the thing's severed head, stuck his hand in its mouth and ripped its jaw clean off before chucking the head with all his might to splatter against the wall like a ripe watermelon.

Ripping his blade out of his stomach, he chopped off the Redead's legs which were still wrapped around Link's waist then impaled it again. Not only was he pissed as hell at those things, but it gave him a convenient place to stick his sword as he caught the swooning Link before the boy hit the ground.

"Hold, Dark…we are not…finished…yet." His breath was shallow and his skin was even paler then Dark's but still Link tried to continue with his mission, taking out his Ocarina to play with trembling fingers the song from the crypt to call down shafts of light that would incinerate the corrupt remains in purifying white flames. Only then would he let Dark see to him. At the same time, the bars over the door retracted and a large treasure box materialized in the center of the room but they both had other matters to attend to at the moment. Link's neck was horribly bruised and a large section of it was black where the skin had turned necrotic from the Redead's bite.

"Wow…this looks pretty bad. Y'know what emergencies like this call for? Heart Piece! Dat da da daaah." Dark grinned, holding out the crystallized essence of life energy and Link just shook his head in amazement. Well, Dark tried grinning anyways. Truthfully he was scared to death but he wanted to do what he could to keep both their spirits up. After all, mood could have a great impact on both a person's recovery time and fighting ability.

"This is…amazing, Dark. I truly do wonder…how you manage to find these," Link said in between bites. He was following his normal habit of eating them, doing the blue outer part first while saving the red part for last. He just wasn't wasting time to enjoy the flavor and sure enough, as he ate the color slowly returned to his cheeks.

Dark just grinned, this time for real. He'd given Link the one from the spider house so he still had one left. Hopefully he wouldn't need to use it anytime in the near future. Link was just finishing up the blue outer shell and popping the red centerpiece in his mouth. Dark kept his eyes on the spot on Link's neck where the tissue was blackened and dead while the Hero was consuming his Heart Piece. The area shrank slightly, the rough edges fading away until it was a perfect circle of black on the boy's tan skin.

Link didn't seem to notice though, instead going to open the box and sitting back down next to Dark a second later holding the map. He glanced it over for a moment before casting a quick spell that would make all the rooms on the map that they'd already been to turn blue. "Alright Dark, take a look. We are here," he pointed to a small flashing blue square. "All the blue area is where we have been. As you can see, it isn't very much. This room over here is the main room with the bird statue where we couldn't cross. It seems that is the path to the main section of the temple. So, we only have one more room on this side of the divide to explore."

"Oh joy," Dark muttered sarcastically, then on a more serious note, "are you sure you're alright to be up and walking around so soon?" Link nodded, taking one last look at the map before rolling it up and tucking it down his shirt. Apparently this little catacomb area was much smaller then it felt like it'd be. Aside from the two side rooms, it was nothing more then two figure-eights.

Back outside, this other room was a quick right and straight ahead through another false wall. Just like the last one, when they approached it an invisible force pulled the door open and hauled the two boys into the room to bar the door behind them.

Though there were no Redeads, this room was just as gruesome. The room was covered in the stale dirt that packed graves and was barren of any features save for skulls and a garden of dead white hands rising several feet out of the ground like some kind of sickly macabre flowers. There were eight of them, pale as snow with long blood red nails just waiting…

"I have seen this before." Link said, wincing. "The hands will just sit there until they catch something. That is when their controller appears. It has a vulnerable spot on its head. One of us…will need to be bait…and I believe I should do it."

Dark just stared, amazed. Link just finished getting practically molested by zombies and he was already prepared to throw himself out as bait! As much as he wanted to argue, Dark had to respect the blond's stoic determination to see his job through to the end. It showed that he really took his job seriously and he said so.

"Why? I'm not gonna try and talk you out of it, I'm just curious about your reasoning."

"We will have plenty of time to talk afterwards. For now we have work to do." and before Dark could stop him, Link was off towards the closest of these hands. Even if he'd had his sword out, Link wouldn't have been able to hit the thing. It grabbed him before he could get in range, pulling a pained cry from the boy as it took a grip on the hair near the back of his skull and wrenching back on it, forcing Link to bend over backwards.

From the back of the room, the ground burst apart in a shower of rock and dirt as 'The Controller', as Link had called it, rose from the grave dirt packing the floor. Dark stared in revulsion at the sickly white bloated corpse that crawled out of the hole. Two short stubby arms hung off a swollen mass of putrid white flesh mottled with red spots like some kind of disease and topped by a head that sat upon a two foot long neck looking straight up into the air.

Slowly it waddled towards its captured prey and Dark waited, ready. When it finally got close it bent down, keeping its whole neck stiff as though it could not bend. Glaring into the two black abysmal eyes of the creature, Dark felt many different shades of disgust running through him but nothing like the horrible cold-sweat inducing panic that the Redeads invoked.

"You're mine," Dark snarled with a savage glee, lunging forward in a flurry of cross slashes. As he pulled his blade across the monsters face he left behind deep furrows that sprayed a dense green blood. It just started to raise its head to escape the danger but Dark wouldn't let it get away so easily, jumping into an upper slash that cut out its eye and smashing the hilt of his sword into its mouth and knocking out a few jagged blood soaked teeth.

It waddled away several steps before submerging itself into the dirt as easily as if jumping down into water. With the threat gone at least for the moment, Dark slashed the hand that was holding Link and it slithered into the ground like a burrowing snake.

"Now what?" Dark asked, looking around for his prey.

"Now we rinse and repeat or it will regenerate itself. Be ready for it," Link replied and ran off to the next closest hand. As before, it grabbed his head and dug in. Right on cue, the nightmare creature arose from its hole in the ground as it sensed a living creature caught in its hands like a spider in a web. It apparently hadn't had time to regenerate since its eye was still hanging out and dripping thick green ooze along with the bloody slashes in its face.

"This thing must not learn," Dark muttered with a snort. The nice thing about fighting stupid monsters was that they never caught on to the tactics used against them. In this case, however, Dark was wrong. Several new hands shot out of the ground to grab his feet and keep him from running over to finish their master off. Swearing under his breath, he chopped them off but more kept regenerating to keep him immobile. The dead hand lowered its head to stare at Dark and wiggle its jaws mockingly.

"You're not smarter then me, bastard," he spat and chucked his sword across the room. It spun vertically through the air with the force of Dark's immense strength propelling it to pierce through the monster's forehead to the hilt with the blade sticking out the back side. Uttering only a single low groan of pain the creature fell back to lie twitching in the dirt and all its hands all fell lifelessly to the ground with it.

Link let out the breath he'd been holding and took out his Ocarina, wasting no time in playing the Sun Song.

The high notes of the melody sang through the room like a chorus of birds chirping in the gentle springtime breeze and as with the Redeads, shafts of light came down from the ceiling to give a holy cremation to the diseased bodies and corrupted souls that had been used in the creation of the Dead Hands. Once the impure creatures had been completely consumed in the white fire that accompanied the Sun Song, a box materialized in the center of the room and Link was all over it.

"This is it Dark, our treasure hunting is paying off, I just know it!" Link piped happily, completely ignoring the blood running down his face from the multiple shallow cuts where the sharp nails of the hands had dug into his scalp.

"How do you know?" Dark asked as Link paced in circles around the box just dying to open it.

"Because that is the way it always works! These temples always provide the item needed to clear it. That is one of the first things they teach you in Hero School," Link teased as the curiosity got the best of him and he threw the lid open to take out a pair of boots covered in a short fur with pale yellow feathers sticking out of the backs

"Aha, you see Dark? We are making progress." Link smiled and sat down to put his new toy on.

Immediately he felt the difference as he tried running around. It was like floating; he could start moving but trying to turn his body would keep going in its original direction. It was lots of fun until he slid into Dark and knocked him over.

"Oof. What was that for?" he grumbled, though just to hide the fact that he was really enjoying having Link fall on him.

"Sorry, Dark. These boots have no traction. In fact…" he paused resting his fingers gently on the boots to fully read the enchantments running through them. "In fact, these are hover boots. That is how we cross the divide," Link explained, attaching the feather covers over the metal plating that he used back in the Water Temple. It was just more convenient to have them all on the same pair of boots. Clicking his heels together, the hover spell went dormant and his traction returned to normal. With another click he could turn it back on or make them heavy if he chose to do so.

They left the room as soon as Link's boots were ready and the first thing Dark did was to take his sleeve and clean Link's face off. While it might not have made much difference for battles since a scalp cut would bleed a lot but nowhere near fatal, Dark still found it disconcerting to see his Hero seemingly weeping tears of blood.

Things like that really kept Dark on his toes and even Link was walking through the halls with his blade in hand. Fortunately, the blond was left-handed and his shadow was not so it wouldn't hinder either of them when Dark slipped his hand into Link's. Perhaps it was childish but the only possible comfort to glean down in these shadowy halls would come from the his partner and the only other living human in the entire temple.

"Link? Why do you need to play that song" Dark asked, although he did have misgivings about it. In this place, it was entirely possible that he wouldn't want to know. On the other hand, in a place like this any knowledge might be valuable to have no matter how disgusting.

"Well…have you noticed how the Redeads and the Hand back there were not affected by the bane of evil in my sword?" Dark nodded. "That is because they are not evil in the sense that my sword searches for. The Master Sword is made to dispel evil spirits, dark magic and other such things. It doesn't recognize a human soul, no matter how twisted it may become as evil. Apparently, one of the late royal composers developed a song that would purify these twisted spirits. They are everywhere in this place…"

"Then…the Redeads are actually…?" Dark grimaced, fighting the rising urge to be sick.

"Yes. Actual people who were killed and enslaved. I believe Ganon is using the power of the Triforce to do this. Live people are needed and that is the ritual we interrupted in the Tomb of the Royal Family. A Redead bites its victim and sucks the life out of them to leave behind a spirit in a body that cannot die."

Dark shuddered, remembering how even after being sliced off, the Redead's decapitated head had continued trying to kill Link. And he said they were everywhere? Again Dark shuddered, thinking of the unspeakable horrors this place must have seen. "Then is that why I feel like someone is watching us?" Dark asked as they entered back out into the main room. Link didn't answer, instead clicking his heels and taking a running start at the face over the divide. He was right about the boots. For several seconds he ran across thin air before dropping to the statue's tongue.

"Dark, return," Link said, holding up the Water Medallion from the other side of the divide and Dark vanished, dropping out of the sky to land on the sandbank of his cell in the temple beneath Lake Hylia.

"Jerk! You didn't even warn me!" Dark yelled into the cloudy sky as he was once again yanked from his cell and deposited next to Link. The blond turned and started walking, picking up right where he'd left off as if nothing had happened.

"That is correct. There are many lost souls here from the many people sacrificed to this temple. That is why we need to defeat the temple's boss as quickly as possible," Link explained, heading down a ramp. At the bottom a beamos statue waited, turning in slow circles and waiting for someone to get within range of its single eye. Link hardly paid it any mind, casually lobbing a bomb at it. The explosion blew the thing's head off and the statue crumbled. "Now then, which way to go…" he murmured, taking out the map to look it over.

To Dark, there didn't seem to be any way to go. They stood in a round room with three spots where a tunnel might have been but was bricked over. The map agreed with that analysis. It also said that they hadn't missed anything so far.

"So, we have three ways we can go from here? Well that does us a whole fat lot of nothing," Dark muttered, looking at the bricked over tunnels and thinking they should make better map enchantments that keep up with the growing of the temple.

"Do not be so sure Dark. Here, take a look," Link said, handing over the Lens of Truth after glancing around the room through it himself. Dark took the proffered lens and looked through it.

"And…what exactly am I supposed to see here?" he asked. From his point of view, the lens turned everything a slight tint of red, but other then that nothing changed.

"Do you not see the door over there or over there?" Link asked, pointing to the two side tunnels. Dark shook his head. Link frowned, walking over to phase through the first of the walled up tunnels and the raven-haired swordsman ran after him, determined not to let his partner out of his sight. He was convinced that Link really would vanish if left on his own. The Shadow Temple was just that sort of place.

Running through the wall, he skidded to a halt right behind the boy as the door opened of its own accord and something yanked them through. Just like before, two Redeads waited in ambush to pounce on the first of them to twitch. "Dark be careful," Link admonished, remembering last time. While he didn't regret saving his partner, getting caught by a zombie was not an experience he wished to ever repeat.

"Heh. Don't worry, I may not be the sharpest arrow in the quiver but I learn from my mistakes." The Redead closest to Dark raised its soulless black eyes to pull the boy into the depths of hell by catching him in the spell of terror that would render him helpless. The first thing that it saw was the toe of a heavy boot swinging up to crash into its chin. The force of the kick knocked it flat on its back and as it stared up at the ceiling it caught Dark's eyes, paralyzing him as he dropped out of the sky with his blade pointed down. Even with his whole body paralyzed, his aim had been true and he fell like a statue, driving the blade through the Redead's face. On the other side of the room Link had just finished dispatching his own Redead when Dark wrenched his blade free and walked over. "See? I learn from my mistakes. That spell of their's is an eye contact thing. Can't cast it if they can't meet my eyes," Dark stated, proud of his discovery and how well it had worked.

Link nodded slowly and pointed over Dark's shoulder. "Yes, but you should finish your work." he chided as the Redead slowly climbed to its feet. The only way to take them out of commission, as Link had demonstrated several times was to literally tear them limb from limb. Simply stabbing it in the head wouldn't kill one of these. The force of his sword, however, had cracked the creatures mask in half and as it stood the pieces of the mask fell away.

The face beneath the mask was that of a woman. Her skin was pale and bloated and all her hair was gone but it was definitely female, or at least had been at one time. The thing that stood out most though was her expression, frozen on her face at the moment of death. It was a look of indescribable anguish. She'd died in terror and in immense pain. Suddenly the moans of the Redeads made sense. The fear from the time they died was so horrible that it continued to haunt them all the way through death, and their voices were so worn from screaming for the years that followed that a low moan of agony was all they could manage anymore.

Step by staggering step she moved towards Dark, never twitching a muscle out of that look of dread as thick blue blood dripped down her face like tears. From the side, he was barely aware of Link moving around as the sheer force of her agony almost forced him to his knees. The notes of the Sun Song bounced off the walls of the room, filling it with cheer, warmth, springtime and the gentle sunlight that engulfed the two Redeads in wreaths of white fire til nothing was left but ash.

As soon as the small pale light like a firefly appeared that meant that a treasure box would appear momentarily, Dark turned and threw his arms around Link, just letting the Hero hold him as he cried his pain away.

For Link, the situation came with mixed feelings. He did always enjoy seeing Dark open up, but not like this. He'd wanted to protest more to Dark's entering the temple in the first place for this exact reason, but he knew the boy wouldn't have listened. This was the sort of thing that Dark just had to see for himself. He had to really understand exactly how serious this mission was.

"I know Dark, it's alright," Link murmured reassuringly as he gently rubbed his partner's back. "I am sorry you had to see that but I wanted you to understand. It is to stop things like that that I am on this journey. This is about more then just how Ganon wants to sit in the castle and call himself king. He does unspeakably terrible things; things that I cannot allow. I have the ability to stop him so I have the responsibility to do it." He sighed as the sobs that wracked Dark's body subsided. "Things like this get to me on a very personal level. It is a practice that I…cannot allow to continue."

Dark nodded, rubbing his eyes and went over to grab the Compass out of the treasure box. "Then…we don't have any time to waste. Let's go," Dark said, walking towards the door. Link followed along behind him, more then slightly impressed. Though he'd break down and cry from the terrible sights of the Shadow Temple, that he could pull himself together and continue on like that was something that Link respected a great deal.

Back out in the main room, Dark jogged out into the middle then tried to go through the middle passage but ran into the wall and stumbled back. This one actually was a real wall. Link just chuckled, tossing a bomb next to it and a second later the blast had the whole wall crumbling to reveal yet another door, but Link took the opportunity to sit down and pour over the map again. Mostly what he wanted to do was integrate the compass into his map spell to mark where all the treasure boxes were located. There was only one box he really cared about though.

"Here. This is the one we need." Link pointed to a corner of the temple some distance away from their current position.

The room ahead was more of a long corridor that looped back and forth to descend deeper and deeper into the mountains. Though it seemed relatively safe, several of the giant Skultulla dropped from invisible compartments in the ceiling and left Link with several nasty bruises. After the first two, he kept his Hookshot ready to pierce through the tough shell and tear their guts out. It wasn't a nice way to kill something, but it had to be done.

Past rusty iron guillotines wielded by rat statues, and some invisible moving platforms and bypassing several other directions they could have taken, Link and Dark ended up in a room with a boat.

"Link, we're passing a lot of stuff up," Dark muttered, looking at the map. There were huge sections of the temple that they were just bypassing on Link's order. "I thought you were the perfectionist type who wanted to go and get everything, right? What gives?"

Sighing, Link settled back against a wall of rock, looking up at the ceiling. "Each Temple has to have a master; someone to control temple's natural energy. When it was one of Ganon's creatures, they'd have a presence in every room. Every monster tied back into that central consciousness. True, I could go through a room and exterminate the creatures in it but that would only hold so long as I was there. The power of my blade would keep them at bay for a single room but no more. After I left, the temple's master could simply tap it's energy and spawn new servants. It is the same here. I can destroy creatures but I cannot keep them gone so long as the boss lives."

Dark blinked timidly. "So the Redeads can come back?"

"No, thank goodness. Now that I can incinerate them, they need to be created from scratch. The problem is, I do not know how many have already been spawned," Link explained, standing and going to climb a ladder up to the raised platform that would allow him to jump over to the boat. The river it floated on wasn't a river, merely a thin wreath of fog. The boat floated on it nonetheless. The 'river' was barely the width of the boat and two sheer stone walls rose up on either side.

When Dark got to the top, Link was already on the boat and standing in the middle of an engraving of the Triforce, Ocarina out to play Zelda's Lullaby as soon as Dark was aboard. He glanced around, noting the same bird from the beginning as the figurehead on the mast holding a pair of bells. The bells started swinging and the boat began gliding down the river.

It was almost a pleasant voyage, in a creepy sort of way, until a pair of Stalfos, skeletons in tattered green pants with short swords and round shields dropped from the sky to land on the boat.

"Finally something a little normal," Dark muttered, pulling his blade out. With small fries like these he didn't need to get fancy. One slash to lock his blade against the Stalfos' shield. With his sword unavailable, it tried to slash him back but Dark simply grabbed its wrist and started walking. Step by step he moved, the strength of a bull forcing it back until it teetered on the brink of the abyss. From there, a shove sent it careening over the edge.

Link on the other hand welcomed the workout, waiting for it to attack so he could dart in and slash while its defenses were down. It was slower then Dark's way but also more fun. The Stalfos tried to get him in a jumping slash but Link simply stepped aside and stabbed it from the back. Too many wounds from a holy blade and the skeleton collapsed in a burst of green flames.

"Well, this has been fun, but I believe it is time to abandon ship," Link stated with a grandiose bow to the imaginary audience.

"Huh, why?"

"Wall."

Indeed, their quaint little boat was indeed approaching a solid brick wall that didn't fade away before the Lens of Truth. The duo jumped off the left, landing on a dock as their boat capsized and sank into the abyss.

"So now what?" Dark asked, flopping down on his back. They stood on a strip of pavement with abyss on the right and abyss on the left.

"Now we take the door," Link stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, pointing down at the opening down at the end of their little dock. In reality, it was probably close to that obvious anyways but somehow Dark missed the door.

"Bah, it can wait." Dark muttered, stretching out casually on the ground. "C'mon, sit. We need a break." He said, patting the ground next to him. Link stared down at his idle accomplice and sighed. He really felt the need to stay industrious for as long as possible when in a temple. Never mind they'd been going for a good ten hours. Give or take.

"We can take a break when we finish. And I do not think the ground here is a safe place to be taking a nap," Link protested by Dark just waved him off.

"C'mon we both need a break. My feet are killing me and I bet yours are too. Call it… regrouping, if that makes you feel better," Dark yawned, indifferent to Link's attempts to get him moving again.

"Fine. If you wish to stay here, by all means do so. I will be going on ahead," Link said, striding purposefully towards the door. Dark swore, jumped up and ran after him. No way in _hell_ was he getting left behind in a place like this.

"Oh, Dark. How nice to see that you decided to join me." Link smiled pleasantly, continuing on in a light conversational tone. "It is always so lovely to have company with me on a stroll."

"You can be such an ass when you feel like it, you know that?" Dark muttered, jogging towards the door to hold it open his partner. "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way"

"I know you would never do such a thing. You are the highest pinnacle of manners and nobility that I know," Link shot back flippantly.

"Ass. You know you-" Dark cut off as Link held his arm out to bar the way. They stood in a fair sized round room with three doors to the left, right and straight ahead. Sets of stone pillars were spread evenly throughout the room, dividing the room up into neat squares.

Link smiled, taking a few steps to the side sticking close to the wall when he stumbled with a grunt and ran his gloved hands over the air between the first pillar and the wall.

"I see. It seems as though this room has invisible walls. Follow me please and I will protect you from running into anything invisible. But if you happen to get clumsy, I will not be held responsible."

Dark rolled his eyes. Again, what was with Link suddenly being in such a good mood out in the middle of creepy spooky horror-ville? It seemed a very unusual place and even though Link had explained the reason why… it was still weird! Suddenly out of nowhere Link was displaying a sense of humor, out there, prominently! It was a dry, sarcastic kind of humor but still undoubtedly there. The Hero of Time wielding sarcasm. That was scary in and of itself.

Link kept the Lens of Truth held to his eye, making seemingly unnecessary turns, at least from Dark's point of view. That was, until he put his hand out and brushed his knuckles across brick that he couldn't see so maybe Link wasn't making pointless turns. He walked down towards the far door then looped back and walked straight along the wall to the first door. Just the opposite of before, the invisible force that was the influence of the Temple's master suddenly appeared, pushing against them like a strong wind.

The gusts of wind were strong enough to knock Dark's lighter frame off his feet but Link was quick enough to spin around and catch him, clicking his heels together to make his feet stick to the floor with a heavy metallic _clank._ The force of the shadow raged around them but Link's boots were immovable as he bent forward with only a one handed grip on Dark's tunic, pulling him closer. Dark pulled also, climbing up to ride piggyback on his partner since it was the only way to get the two of them to the door.

Slowly, struggling the entire way Link clanked his way to the door, forced it open and staggered inside. Once in, the door slammed and barred leaving the two to deal with the next crisis. Two wooden walls covered in spikes were slowly closing in on them. At this rate, they'd be squished. "Well great. You just had to pick a room like this. Did you ever think maybe we shouldn't be here?" Dark yelled, dropping to the ground and running over to try chopping through the wall but for some reason he couldn't get off more then a few chips of wood at a time.

Link was just standing there, gathering his magic into an expanding dome-shaped inferno that grew to fill the entire room. the spike walls went up in flames. Behind the walls, the two Redeads on either side also went up in flames, standing to move, flame engulfed towards Link and Dark. Apparently being ignited was enough to get their attention. Unfortunately, Dark also caught on fire before his flailing around put it out.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Dark rushed forward, keeping his eyes planted firmly on the floor and the Redead's feet to keep its position in sight. "I'm sorry," he whispered, slashing up into whoever this person used to be. One diagonal slash up then he dropped, swinging his sword. It bit through the Redead's knees and, once it was on the ground and helpless, Dark hacked it into pieces.

Dark sniffed and walked over to the chest the Redead had been guarding: an ornate blue and gold box with intricate carvings on it which Dark didn't feel like admiring. He just kicked the thing open and took the key out. Unlike other keys he'd seen, this one was gold with horns and a ruby in the center of the back. He stared into the gemstone, wincing slightly when the familiar shafts of light came down to herald the two Redead guards to the next world.

"Alright Dark, that is what we came here for," Link said. They ran back out through the invisible passages to the dock back outside.

Far off to the right, farther then the Hover Boots could make was a giant statue of that macabre bird once again. Link just smirked, taking out his bow and drawing a single arrow. He held the shot for several seconds until the arrowhead started to glow red then released. It shot out over the foggy depths of the abyss, bursting into fiery brilliance half way across. The flaming arrow hit right on target into the base of the statue and more importantly, into the thick leafed bombflowers ringing it. One by one they exploded, setting off a chain reaction that destroyed the base of the statue, sending it slowly falling across the abyss right at them.

Dark bit his lip nervously, jumping to side so as not to get skewered by the falling bird's beak but Link never moved as the gargantuan statue came crashing down, sending gusts of air and shards of rock flying everywhere.

When the dust cleared, the end of the statue made a perfect bridge to the other side and was a scant two feet to the toe of Link's boots. "Showoff. I can be awesome like that too," Dark grumbled irritably, more upset with himself for looking so skittish while his partner was just being amazing. Link just shook his head and set off across the newly made bridge but Dark could have sworn he was grinning.

Running across the stone pillar after his partner, Dark couldn't help but feel that he'd just been one-upped. True, Link was more the simple and practical but every once in a while he would do something completely amazing and it left Dark with this indescribable urge to do something even more impressive. Frustratingly though, on this short little stone platform and on the next ledge ahead there was nothing too terribly impressive to work with unless he wanted to do an amazing job of smashing those dangerous clay pots sitting against the wall. Probably not.

The door over on this side was secured by a simple padlock. It was nice and shiny and new. That made Dark curious. Either the locks were enchanted or they had some cult member designated to come around and make sure they all looked nice and pretty. In a temple where the theme was blood, death and torture, why in the names of the Goddesses would they care if they had rusty locks or not? Such matters were beyond the poor boy's scope of comprehension.

Behind that door they finally stood before their goal. They stood on a small stone platform in the heart of the darkness that pervaded the temple. Aside from the door they just entered from and a few other things, the room was nothing. The walls, the floor, the ceiling; all just black; stretching on into empty space for eternity. In here, Link could understand Sheiks words about the infinite darkness that consumes even time.

Straight ahead was the giant door secured by a massive spiked gold padlock that protected the Temple's master but there was no way over. On a hunch, Link took out the Lens of Truth and sure enough, more invisible small platforms crossed over the dark empty void. He heard Dark gasp behind him as he leapt out into nothingness and the resulting sigh of relief when he landed on his invisible platform.

"Just wait there Dark. I will bring you over when I get there."

But Dark didn't listen, jumping after him onto the shadowy catwalks, taking great care to step exactly in Link's footsteps. Finally though, they stood before the door and Link inserted the gold key into the giant padlock and let it fall to the ground. He did of course retrieve the key. It wasn't as though they were useful for anything but he liked having them as trophies

They stepped into a small room whose only feature was a large circular hole in the ground. Dark peered over the edge with a frown. "Now if that doesn't just scream "TRAP!" then I don't know what does. Are you sure we got the right room?" he asked nervously. In all honesty, Dark was terrified. Much like Link, after having seen the horrors of this temple, his imagination was running away with him and plaguing him with everything from armies of Redeads to giant soul-sucking demons.

Link on the other hand just shrugged and hopped down the hole. He was tired of wasting time and wanted to see this finished. Dark stared down the hole, watching Link's blond mop disappear into the darkness and with a small sob he tumbled in after him.

As he fell through the darkness, he waited any minute to get grabbed by something horrible but the tunnel widened out and he landed on something stretchy that bounced him several feet back up in the air. "What is this? Some kind of drum?" Link asked mostly to himself as he looked around. They did indeed stand on what seemed to be a giant bongo drum surrounded by nothingness to all sides. A sudden shockwave running through the ground pushed both Dark and Link up into the air.

Floating there, a black spectral beast stared down at the boys. Vaguely like the upper torso of a person, it had two giant hands with which to beat the drum that levitated near its wrist and its head consisted of a single blood red eye surrounded by purple spikes.

"Yup. Giant soul-sucking demon, just like I thought. I'm really starting to hate being right all the time, " Dark sighed, groaning when the central body disappeared, leaving only the two gargantuan hands to beat the drum.

The shockwaves ripping through the drum kept them airborne half the time and staggering around, trying to find some kind of equilibrium.

"Dark, the main body is still there, just invisible. If we can-" he cut off as one of the giant black hand slapped him halfway across the drum, still getting knocked into the air every time the other hand came down to strike the taut canvas.

"Bastard!" Dark snarled, running up to the hand that had just sent his partner skidding across the ground and, using the rhythm of the drum beat, timed his jump to take advantage of the trampoline-like properties to launch himself into the air high enough to rake his blade down the back of the hand. Surprisingly, it backed off, shaking as if in pain and even more surprisingly, it bled and oozing green puss from the wound.

Of course, Dark's feeling of satisfaction was cut a little short as the drum stopped vibrating and the shadow moving over the still covering forewarned of the hand coming in the shape of a fist to try and crush him. Knowing the attack was coming, It wasn't that hard to time his dodge, rolling out of the way at the last second, twisting onto his feet then leaping forward to try and lop off one of the black crusted fingers. Even with all his weight behind it, his blade didn't go nearly far enough, but the hand did rear back in pain.

They suddenly stopped shaking, balling into fists on either side of the drum to rush forward, punching. They were way too far away though. No way would they hit…. and then Dark remembered the giant invisible body in between that must be rushing at him. "Uh oh." was all he could get out before something heavy plowed into him, knocking Dark flat on his back with the wind knocked out of him.

In the background he could hear a high, inhuman shriek of pain. He could imagine Link in the background, slashing away at the beast's vital spots and indeed, that was exactly what was happening until it pulled back to avoid further damage, returning to furiously beating the drum. Each pulse knocked Dark's stunned body into the air but at least landing didn't hurt. Finally he could breathe again, so some extent anyways when he saw a hand levitating over him, ready to drop and squash an insignificant insect.

It was in the midst of falling when the musical _twang _of Link's bow string saved him, sending the monster's hand off to wait for the pain to subside. The other came up, flying in to grab the blond and crush him in retaliation, but Link calmly fired another arrow in the sensitive flesh of its palm and immediately drew another arrow and waiting for the beast to charge.

Charge it did, just like the previous time. Link let it get closer and closer before he finally released, sending his arrow piercing into the single red eye. That was all it took to drop the beast to the drum, stunned as Link ran up and sliced with sacred steel into its vulnerable ocular tissue.

Determined to do his part to help, Dark ran to the side and jumped on one of the incapacitated hands, holding onto the rough protrusions covering the back. Before it could start drumming again, Dark was stabbing it, plunging his blade over and over into the shadowy flesh. Disturbed and enraged, the beast tried to slap down on him again but Link caught onto the plan and covered him, feathering the other hand with five arrows.

Bellowing its fury, the shadow beast resorted to its base instinct; to rear back and charge and when he did, Link was waiting with an arrow already knocked and glowing a cheery red. "Die, you unholy spawn of Ganon," he growled vehemently , waiting until the beast was almost upon him to release the arrow. As designed, the arrow burst into sudden brilliance as magical fire blinded its only source of vision.

Dazed and confused it fell, blinded and twitching to the canvas as one final time Link rammed his sword to the hilt into monster's eye. With burning holy steel embedded in it the phantom wert berserk, thrashing and flailing around as its solid flesh body faded. It retained it's shaped but instead of something tangible it became nothing more then a dark mass of energy. With his sword still impaling the beast and unreachable on the flailing monster, Link would just have to survive as the sacred steel of the Master Sword burned it from the inside out. If he could survive that long then this temple would be completed.

Howling furiously, several tendril of dark energy grabbed the blond Hero, squeezing and swinging him around to smash him against the drum over and over. He wondered how much more he could take when suddenly he heard the familiar notes of the Sun Song ringing out in the darkness. The notes were wavering and uncertain, but the song was played correctly and in the middle of this abysmal temple, shafts of light came down, piercing into the Shadow Beast like spears thrown from heaven.

Suddenly released, Link fell to the ground and immediately pulled out his Ocarina of Time, playing the Sun Song in concert with Dark who diligently piped the notes out on his Fairy Ocarina. With the two of them playing it, the effect of the spell strengthened, dispersing the shadows shape and reducing it to a formless mass of darkness. On and on they played, incinerating every last bit of the dark energy.

The last ball of energy to disappear in a burst of white flames left behind a heart container and only then did the blue portal appear.

"It is done. You can rest easy now Dark, we are finished. And do not worry, I did not forget my promise. As soon as I am done speaking with Impa, we will take that vacation."

His first order of business was to pocket the Heart Container. Though he'd never admit it, Link actually had a bit of a sweet tooth and these were his favorite. Intense bursts of sour flavor, similar to black cherry offset by the sweeter outer covering. But he'd have time for that later and with one last look at Dark, he stepped into the portal and let it carry him away.

The Chamber of Sages looked the same as it always did, with Link landing in the Triforce engraving in the center with the crests of the Six Sages circling around him. The Shadow Sage, Impa, appeared before him.

"Well, you've certainly grown to be a fine warrior from the boy I saw seven years ago. I believed in Princesss Zelda and her prophetic dreams from the beginning so there was never any doubt that you would become the destined Hero. She will be waiting for you, once you complete the final temple. Once that Temple is complete, she will meet you at the Temple of Time."

"Yes. I trust you will put and end to those horrible rituals. It is something that personally bothers me a great deal. The things they did, and to the bodies of the Royal Family no less. Disgusting."

Impa eyed the boy impassively for several moments. " I will see what I can do, but make no mistake. Each of us sages have our own work to do. I have an entire temple to purify room by room, pockets of Ganon's minions to exterminate, not to mention fully awakening my powers as a sage and counteracting all this dark influence before I worry about anything outside my own Temple. In the meantime however, you will need this."

Link raised his hand to catch the purple medallion bearing the seal of the Shadow Temple that contained Impa's power and that was always the last thing he did before his vision faded to white and the column of light deposited him back on the warp platform outside the Temple.

"You ready to go?" Dark asked from his position leaning against the wall to the right.

"Yes, I suppose." Link frowned pensively, glancing out over the graveyard. Of course it was raining and he had no inclination to get wet so instead he sat against his own wall to get his thoughts in order. It never occurred to him to think what all the Sages had to do. If even after taking control of the Temple, they were still fighting off pockets of monsters, was there a chance that Ganon could take a temple back? It made Link want to pay a visit to the Forest Temple, just to check in on Saria. Of all the Sages so far, she was least likely to be able to take care of herself. He'd give her a call when he had a free moment. For now, Dark was looking rather impatient.

"Yes, yes, we can leave now." Link sighed, exasperated as they climbed over the wooden fence to drop to the graveyard below. The rain would make it unlikely anyone else would be out but they were still cautious as they went through town, knowing that another riot was not impossible. They passed through the town without incident though and after getting to the bottom of the stairs, Link took out his Ocarina to call for Epona and as her hoofbeats sounded on the distant horizon, the pair finally allowed themselves to relax.

A vacation was coming, and did they ever need it.


	12. Vacation

_**AN: Well, this chapter got done very fast. It hits close to home for me and i stayed up all night so i could get it done for you guys. I'm actually really proud of it and really wanted to see what everyone would say. So, that being all said, enjoy.**_

Vacation

Finally the Shadow Temple was finished and Dark had never been so happy to be on a horse. As Epona galloped off into Hyrule field, Dark took an almost childlike delight in turning around in the saddle to wave goodbye to the temple and the city of hatred and bigotry where it was settled. He even deigned to blow the shrinking village a kiss or two. It was his way of gloating over having survived his first temple. More then anything else, he was glad to be able to enjoy being next to his hero without worrying about being attacked. Actually, out in the field it was possible, even likely to get attacked, but it was nothing compared to the cold fear of the Shadow Temple.

Once Kakariko was completely out of sight, Dark occupied himself enjoying the scenery. Far off to the right he saw the ruins of what once was the Hyrule Castle Town; capital of the entire country. Now it wasn't even a smoldering ruin; the ashes from its fires had long since gone cold. Now it was just the cold, dead, empty shell of something that used to be a city. Now Ganondorf made his headquarters there in a twisted perversion of the old palace.

But Dark didn't know anything about any of that as he watched birds playing in the sky over the gently rolling hills that made up the central area of Hyrule. A light breeze blowing in the afternoon sun had such a restful effect.

Link on the other hand was still thinking about Impa's parting words. It made him anxious to talk to Saria, and while she would certainly welcome a visit, she'd think he was silly for running in to check up on her. One of the things he'd learned early on in his journey was how to compromise with himself. Once they arrived, he'd talk to her via the magic of the song she'd taught him. Then, both his viewpoints would be satisfied.

He was also thinking about the Castle Town. With the power of the Sun Song it should be possible to reclaim it. Link had only been eleven years old when he drew the Master Sword and became the Hero of Time. For seven years his body slept in a magical coma. When he left the Temple of Time, Hyrule Castle Town that had been a flourishing metropolis only a few minutes before was reduced to dark ruins infested by the living dead. At least fifteen of them just sat around the fountain in the center of the city. He almost hadn't made it out of the city.

Dark noticed the silence and tried to find out what was wrong but Link refused to talk about it. Changing the subject, Dark tried finding out where they were going but again the blond wouldn't say, only that they'd be there soon. Indeed, just moments later a large building appeared on the horizon and Link tapped against Epona's flanks to urge her faster and Dark felt the tension drain out of his partner as they approached.

High wooden walls surrounded a cluster of buildings up at the top of this hill. A single lone pine tree guarded the entrance of what an overhead sign declared to be 'Lon Lon Ranch.' They weren't even inside yet but Dark already decided that he liked the atmosphere. That might have had something to do with the tree, standing at the entrance like a single soldier standing diligently to protect the inhabitants of the ranch from the outside world. Dark grinned. Yeah, he liked the way that sounded.

As they trotted through the gates and around the bend a girl in a servicable white and purple dress was just coming out of the barn on the right. "Fairy boy!" she shouted, setting down the pails of milk she was carrying to run up to them. Link slid to the ground with a gentle smile and opened his arms to accept the hug she was obviously running up to throw at him. A few feet away though she stopped to sniff the air around him, wrinkling her nose. "Goddess of Courage help me if I'm gonna hug you. You smell terrible! Honestly, Fairy Boy, what have you been up to?" she chided teasingly. "No hugs for you 'til you've had a proper bath."

Link nodded thankfully. "Thank you Malon, a bath would be wonderful. Also, could you get some water ready later so I can do laundry? We haven't had the time. Its been…rather busy as of late."

The girl called Malon just shrugged it off, tossing her long auburn hair over her shoulder. "I'll take care of your laundry, don't worry about it. I can have your bath ready in a few minutes and start dinner after that. You'll be staying of course. Am I cooking for your friend too?" She asked, glancing at Dark who was climbing down from the saddle, albeit a little more awkwardly then Link had.

At the mention of 'dinner' Dark's ears perked up and he nodded vigorously in the background. "Yes, I'm sure he'll appreciate it. Oh, introductions. Malon, this is my partner Dark. Dark, Malon is an old friend from my childhood.

"Your childhood? You say that like it was such a long time ago," Dark whispered as he passed, earning him an elbow in the ribs. "Nice to meet you." Dark smiled, trotting up to shake her hand.

"Likewise, I'm Malon and if you need anything just ask me. Baths, laundry and dinner for two more, then, so I better get started. There's always so much to do you know. I'll get right on the water!" And with that she grabbed her buckets of milk and carried them inside. Since the barn was on the right, the house on the left must be where she lived.

Relieved of her passengers, Epona trotted off to the corral in the background. Aside from the two buildings the corral was the next major piece in the ranch. It held a herd of horses inside and a well-worn track for racing around the outside. The only other building was a kind of tower in the back and Dark had no idea what it might be for.

"Link…?" Dark asked after a minute of silence. "What's a bath?" he asked, wearing that look of wide eyed innocent curiosity. It made Link groan, for he knew that if he involved himself in the process at all that it would get twisted into a mess he'd rather not deal with. On the other hand, Dark was his responsibility and there was no getting around that.

"Alright boy's, its ready!" Malon called from the doorway and they filed in after her. The place was nice, though a little big for just two people. The main room housed most of the farm's chickens; a race that Dark had become rather fond of. They followed her up the stairs and down the hall, passing several rooms to the one on the end. "This room will be yours. I'll have your clothes waiting in here when I'm done." And with that she waited out in the hall as Link walked into the bathroom and started stripping his clothes off.

"For the love of the Goddesses Dark, just keep your mouth shut for now," Link muttered, taking his clothes off and passing them and his two spare outfits out the door. Nodding in understanding, Dark jogged down to their room to put his last Heart Piece in a safe place before running back to the bathroom and stripping also to hand his clothes, which were actually still Link's out the door to let Malon take them off to get cleaned.

Dark sat back and yawned, sitting on the cool wooden floor as Link climbed into the steaming water with a contented sigh, leaning back as the water soothed his aches away. He frowned, tilting his head to the side as Link submerged himself in the water, coming back up a moment later to grab the soap and start scrubbing.

"This is interesting. There sure is some weird stuff out here," Dark commented. Indeed, so interesting was it that he was watching a naked Link splash around in the water without getting turned on. It was this realization that made him frown. Why wasn't this turning him on?

"The Shadow Temple…I am glad we are finished with it. Just being there makes me feel dirty." Link murmured, rubbing absently at the black circle on his neck from where the Redead had bit him.

"Well yeah. No way in hell was that place sanitary. And be careful or we might lose you in there." Dark teased about the way Link was vigorously scrubbing himself, as if a bar of soap was enough to purge the Redead's taint from his soul. It wouldn't, but he couldn't be blamed for trying. Sighing, he Link eventually realized this fact himself and switched over to shampoo. It felt a bit odd for him to borrow a woman's shampoo but there was little choice. Nothing of her father's seemed present. Perhaps he had his own bathroom.

As much as he would have loved to soak, Link cut his relaxing bath short so the water would still be warm for Dark. So he climbed out, skin pink and shiny from scrubbing and of course _now_ Dark was turned on, watching the water pour off his Hero's hard muscled body and how his wet hair hung down in a gold cage in front of those piercing blue eyes was definitely sexy.

That would get in in trouble though so before he rebellious body could give him away, Dark hopped into the water, wincing at the heat that was still present. In reality it wasn't all that hot, but coming from a cool climate, heat was something Dark was naturally sensitive to.

Only once he was in the water did Dark realize how dirty he truly was. He didn't pay it much mind before but having the coating of grave dirt, caked-on sweat, dried blood, putrefying monster bile and burnt skin from when Link accidentally lit him ablaze all melded together in a slimy ooze that coated his entire body.

He looked up at his partner who was drying himself off on a fluffy white towel with a look of absolute disgust. Dark knew _exactly _what was on his skin and thinking about all that stuff made him feel decidedly ill. Following Link's example, he grabbed the soap and started scrubbing like his life depended on it, determined to get the remaining taint of the Shadow Temple off his skin.

Link smirked, giving a sympathetic nod. He knew exactly what they boy was feeling. "Lean back," Link said, gently dunking his partner under the water then grabbing he shampoo bottle. He figured he could do something helpful since Dark was busy feverishly abrading the muck off his skin…

Ten minutes later Dark was climbing out of the tub to take a towel and start drying himself. The water that drained out of the tub definitely wasn't clear anymore. "Well…I think two more of those and we should be getting almost clean," Dark grumbled, wrapping his towel around his waist and following Link down the hall to their room. Link chuckled, nodding in agreement. He felt the same way too. The Shadow Temple just seemed to seep down and stain a person.

As soon as they were back in their room with the door shut, Dark hooked a finger on Link's towel and pushed it to the floor.

"What are you doing?" Link growled, his blush barely perceptible from how his entire body was glowing pink.

"Eye candy," Dark teased, sticking out his tongue as Link snatched his towel back, threw it over Dark's head and roughly rubbed it around. He knocked Dark on the ground and sat there, brutally rubbing it back and forth across his face so his gasping and sputtering partner had no chance to do anything. Finally Link stopped and pulled the towel away. He couldn't help a laugh as Dark glared fury at him, hair sticking up all over the place. "What was that!"

"Your hair was wet." Link chuckled again as his partner just stuttered incoherently.

"Wh…so…then…you…arghh! You are such an asshole!" Dark growled and pounced the blond but Link rolled deftly out of the way and pulled his breeches on causing his shadow to cross his arms and pout. "Now that's not fair at all," he grumbled, grabbing his own breeches and pulling them on.

"Oh Dark, I doubt it would be such a problem if you could learn to control your perverse tendencies," Link suggested, buttoning up his green Kokiri tunic. That also bothered Dark, though he didn't want to show it.

"Hey uhm… just curious, did my tunic feel tight on you?"

Link tilted his head in confusion as he rolled his shoulders around. "No, not particularly. Why?"

Dark blushed, not really wanting to bring the subject up but at the same time he found himself insanely curious about the mechanics behind it. "Its just… yours felt kind of loose on me. I wonder if you've got a larger body structure then I do. I mean it's possible; you're taller after all."

Link blink, trying to comprehend what was actually going on. "I am taller? Hmm. I never noticed," he answered, completely ignoring how Dark grit his teeth at that. Or maybe he simply didn't notice. Of course, now that it was brought up, Link just had to go stand in front of Dark and compare to see if it was true. "Huh. I suppose I am taller. Though, I don't see why it matters."

"Just forget it," Dark muttered, grabbing his tunic and running outside. He always liked being outside. It was out in the fresh air that he made most all of his life-changing revelations so on the side of the main house he sat with his back against a wooden crate. He'd grabbed his shirt but didn't really feel like putting it on and left it sitting in his lap. The late afternoon breeze felt good against his skin as he sat back, watching the sky light up in a canvas of golds and oranges.

It was nice, being able to relax outside, so he didn't turn around when he heard the soft crunch of a heavy footstep behind him. If Link had something to say then he could say it first, but instead of saying anything the blond sat on the box behind Dark and dropped something shiny and blue down in his lap.

"Rupee for your thoughts?" He asked as Dark looked down at the five rupee crystal nestled in the folds of his tunic. It really was odd to see his normally rambunctious partner looking so thoughtful and it made him worry that perhaps Dark was upset about something. Truthfully, it was Dark himself who inspired that move in the first place; a way to ask a question without really asking and keeping the mood light at the same time.

Smiling a little, Dark handed the rupee back over his shoulder. "Sorry, I'm still not that cheap. You want what I'm thinking then you'll have to up the offer." he said, still staring straight ahead. A second later Link's entire wallet dropped into his lap.

"Will that do?"

Dark grinned in spite of himself and handed it back. "You're such a dork. And I mean that in the best way possible of course. No though. I'm not interested in money."

"Then what would you like? You will have to help me out; I do not know what interests you. I'd offer you a Heart Piece but I'm sure you have no shortage of those," Link teased, moving on the box so that Dark was sitting between his legs and from there he took the comb he'd borrowed from the bathroom and started running it carefully through Dark's hair. In spite of his rough treatment of it, his hair was still a little on the damp side.

"What are you doing?" Dark asked curiously.

"If you wait until it dries then you will have a horrible mess to deal with in the morning. Trust me on this," Link answered with a knowing smile. Indeed, his own hair could be as fierce a battle to fight as any of Ganon's creatures and harder to tame then all the Romani horses. Dark's seemed to be much the same way, though glossy black compared to gold. Link also noticed that it was longer then it seemed originally. Apparently Dark had never combed his hair before and it was a tangled mess that could take quite some time to undo.

"I'm sorry," Link said, noting the numerous times the boy winced. He was trying to be gentle, he really was but this was a big job and making it painless simply wouldn't be possible. Though he'd wince often, Dark never complained about it, instead answering the original question.

"I told you something once that you never responded to. I want a response but…I guess I can wait. It's not the sort of thing I'd want to hear unless it was true, y'know?"

Link nodded slowly, wondering what Dark could be referring to. It wasn't like him to be vague like this. "And to what am I supposed to give a response?" he asked.

"I love you," Dark stated and as expected, the tugging on his hair stopped abruptly. After waiting several minutes, he shrugged and said simply, "You asked and I answered you. Like I said, I can wait but don't blame me for answering your question." He sighed, staring off into the setting sun regretfully. Being here at this ranch had thrown a very real and very painful possibility at him. What if Link liked Malon? The thought of it wasn't unbearable but it was close. The only way it sat alright with him was that if she made Link happy then Dark would do his best to be happy too. Forced happiness couldn't be all that hard, after all. Much of his sword training back in the Water Temple involved the principle of mind over matter. No one would ever know the difference.

"Dark, I… I am sorry. It's…there are many things that are just hard for me to accept. There are so many concepts with you that are completely alien to me and I simply have no idea how to react." Link sighed, taking a deep breath, knowing that a more detailed explanation would be required. "I was raised in the Kokiri Forest up until right before I left. I always thought that I was Kokiri until the Deku Tree told me that my mother was actually Hylian who'd taken shelter in the forest during the war ten years ago. She died shortly after getting there, so the Deku Tree brought me up."

Dark frowned but said nothing. He'd never had anything remotely resembling a parent so he had no idea what it would be like to have or lose one. Link started back up with combing the mop of dark hair before him as he continued his story. "The Kokiri are born the children of the Deku Tree and children they stay for their entire lives. Each of them has their own fairy partner but I never had one. Since I had no fairy, they all saw me as an outcast and I was the only one who was ever lonely. I had friends, yes. I had people to talk to but no one I could truly connect with."

He was amazed. He'd had no idea what kind of life Link had had to lead. The blond spoke of his travels and the hardships of being a Hero but the way Dark saw it, there were really two different personas to deal with. He knew all about the trials that befell Link the Hero, but this was the first time he'd heard anything about the hand Fate had dealt to Link the person. For once, Dark had nothing to say. He was just a shadow; a mere imitation and these revelations made it clear that Link had an inner strength that he could never hope to match.

"Dark. I am confused and, as much as I hate to admit it, I am afraid. I do not know how to deal with any of this. I knew I had a duty to fulfill and I'd resigned myself to being alone. Then you showed up and happy as I am to have you around, it still isn't easy to fit you into my plans. You make things so difficult with how you always try to get my clothes off. I was raised in a race that _never grows up._ Think Dark. Culturally how I was raised, the things you want from me just don't happen. That is to say nothing of how once I got out into the world and learned what little I know about things like that, we're both male. The whole world doesn't hate something for no good reason. And yet, in spite of all that you say you love me. You are…the first and only person to ever say that to me."

That was all the all the drama poor Dark could take. "Link, I-"

"Boys! Dinner is ready!" Malon called from the doorway around the corner and Link climbed to his feet and walked off, beckoning for Dark to follow. Dark however was to busy punching his frustration into the box. Of all the times for this to happen! He was _finally _getting Link to open up and Fate was just determined to keep him from making any progress. It was very discouraging. With a sigh he pulled his tunic over his head and trudged inside.

Instead of going upstairs, a door in the back wall of the main room was opened that lead into a small kitchen with a table and four chairs. "Daddy's out with the horses but I bet he fell asleep!" Malon giggled, setting a big roast chicken in the center of the table. Instantly Dark's mouth was watering. "Now then, before we eat I have one last thing to do." With that, she stepped up and threw her arms around Link and pulled him into a tight hug. "Welcome back, Fairy boy."

To Dark's dismay, Link hugged back. Trying to ignore the stab of jealousy in his heart, Dark turned to occupy himself with the spread of food laid out in a row along the counter. A pitcher of milk waited next to vegetables of every kind. Corn, carrots and green beans and roasted sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with gravy. Malon handed them plates and said the magic words. "Help yourselves."

Link sighed as Dark started piling on the food, eager to get eating. He hadn't been a hero for all that long but he at least knew enough to _never _pass up a good meal. "Wow, he's got a healthy appetite," Malon laughed, nudging Link's ribs. "C'mon Fairy Boy, don't look so down, there's plenty of food." In a conspiratorial whisper she added, "He may eat a lot but your brother sure does clean up nice." She watched Dark as he took his spot at the table with an appraising eye.

Link just snorted. "We cannot say until he actually is clean, which I doubt either of us will be for quite some time to come. Not to mention the mess his hair is in."

Dark gave his partner a dark look but said nothing since his mouth was full of mashed potatoes.

"And what do you mean by that?" Malon asked curiously. Link just shook his head. All in all it was a pretty casual event; Malon asked about how their travels were going and got to hear about the Song of Storms and raiding the Gerudo Fortress, and Link asked about how things were going on the ranch and got to hear about how a new horse was just born and how Talon, the ranch owner, was working on training a few new farmhands. Link was interested to hear about that.

Dark stared sadly down at his empty plate. "Help yourself to seconds, we've got plenty," she said and Dark jumped to his feet, beaming like he'd just won the lottery. That got another giggle from Malon. "I like him, he's funny."

"I like her, she feeds me!" Dark called over his shoulder and the Link just smiled before asking about these farmhands.

"Yeah, Kyle and Liam have been helping Daddy out with the horses. When Epona came running home in the middle of the night carrying two kids, I figured you'd be by to explain soon. What's the deal with them? They work well enough but whenever me or Daddy asks anything about why they left home, they get all pale and clam up."

Link sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "Kakariko is the location of the Shadow Temple. I don't know what is going on there now but the villagers were engaged in some shady practices. Those boys were almost sacrificed to a phantom shadow beast. I didn't think it would be wise to leave them in the village that tried to have them killed. I apologize for imposing but I know I can trust you."

Malon gasped and covered her mouth. "Those poor boys! Oh don't worry about it at all, I'm sure Daddy will let them stay here and work on the ranch if they want to."

Sighing, Link bit his lip hesitantly. "Are you sure? We would have been here sooner but the Temple couldn't wait and I do hate to impose on you. If you'll at least let me pay for-"

"Fairy Boy. I said don't worry about it. They can stay here as long as they need and you aren't gonna pay for anything. After all, you're the Hero of Time. You've got the hardest job out of all of us but you still find time to help us normal folk. Me and Daddy are happy to do whatever we can to help. Our ranch is your ranch," she stated proudly.

"Thanks Malon. We're actually here because Dark insisted that I take a break and I was hoping you wouldn't mind. We will of course be more then happy to help out with chores around the ranch and you know I won't allow you to say no to that." Link smiled gently. He had his values after all, and he'd stick to them.

Sighing, Malong held up her hands in mock defeat. "Alright Fairy Boy, you win. You can have chores if you absolutely insist. But, that can wait 'til tomorrow."

"Fine by me, but you were wrong about something. _I've_ got the hardest job. I've gotta keep Fairy Boy here from running himself half to death trying to save the country," Dark cut in, grinning.

Malon flashed a grin back and shook her head. "Aww, you poor thing. Well, make sure you get some rest. I bet you'll need it."

Link nodded. "First though, I'd like to go speak to your father. I would feel rude otherwise."

"Of course, he's out in the corral with the horses. And would you tell him not to forget to come and eat?"

They nodded and headed for the door as Malon collected their dishes, whistling Epona's Song under her breath. The sun was still barely visible on the horizon and the temperature cooled further as they trotted towards the large wooden horse corral where they saw a balding man with a thick beard and an easy smile. Just the way Link remembered him. He stood against the fence and called pointers to the two boys from Kakariko who were swaying in the saddles of their own horses.

"Well, tarnation, if it isn't Link! How ya been, son?" he called with a merry wave as the two strolled up to the gates.

"Hello Talon. Life is rough but we're getting by. Actually we were hoping to stay with you for a few days as a kind of vacation. We also wanted to see how our young friends are doing. I do apologize for the unexpected delivery but there was little time and few options. Oh, and Malon says that dinner is ready," Link tried explain. Talon just laughed.

"Naw, after everything you done to help this ol' man out I'm happy to repay the favor. Alright boys, time to call it a day!" he yelled, going over to help them out of their saddles. Liam walked over first, a boy of about fifteen with light brown hair and chocolate eyes. Kyle, a redhead with a light dusting of freckles was right behind him. "Alright boys, supper's ready so hurry on in," Talon said, leaving them alone to talk.

The two boys stood close together, and it was Liam who spoke first. "You're…the ones who saved us. Uhm, thanks…I guess we really owe you," he said quietly.

Link shook his head "Don't worry about that. But, if you know I'd like you to tell me why they would try to do something so horrible to you. What could you possibly have done to deserve that?" Link asked, specifically being vague. He knew they understood what he was asking without him having to bring up too many painful details like the monsters that had almost turned the teen's souls into an afternoon snack.

Sighing, Liam nodded and jerked his head over his shoulder at the boy who was awkwardly scuffing his shoe against the dirt but Link tilted his head, not understanding what he was trying to tell him.

"Oh for Din's sake, will you spit it out already," Dark said, sitting up on the fence. He hadn't really been paying attention at first but now that he looked, Liam's body language was saying along. He had his head hung, fists balled and was trembling all.

"M-my dad…saw me…k-kissing my best friend." Liam finally choked out, voice thick with emotion as if he was fighting back tears. Then, with a meaningful look at the shy redhead behind him, it finally clicked for both Link and Dark.

Link was stunned, staring in shocked silence at Liam who flinched under his gaze as though he expected to get hit. Then, from somewhere in the back, a low growl pulled Link's attention and he turned to see Dark up on the fence. He'd just been sitting up there, kicking his heels against the wooden barricade but now he was perched on it like a gargoyle, his red eyes glowing coals of fury. He pounced off the fence, lips peeling back in a snarl. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch!" he roared, ripping his sword from his sheath.

A moment later Kyle, who'd barely made a move this entire time ran in front of the cowering Liam and held his arms out to shield the boy. "No…don't hurt him."

Dark looked back and forth between the two boys, growling. "No, I don't mean you!" he snarled, ramming his blade back in his sheath. "I'm going to find he bastard who thought that a kiss qualifies as a capital offense, chop him into bite sized pieces and feed him to a dodongo!"

"Dark!" Link snapped. "You will do no such thing," he commanded, staring down the furious snarling beast that was his partner with an icy calm.

"But…but…that bastard deserves it! You saw what was going on! You know they all deserve exactly what's coming to them." He growled until Link stomped his foot.

"I said no. You are here for me so we do things my way. We must have a set of standards to follow. Failing to follow those standards will make us as bad as the very enemy we hope to defeat. I will not tolerate the death of a living person. We may be killers but we are not murderers," Link said, keeping his eyes locked on Dark's in a contest of will.

Dark was the one to look away first, stomping off to pace back and forth as a way to vent some of his frustration. When he could talk normally, he sat on the ground in front of Kyle. "Mind if I ask you something?" Kyle nodded hesitantly. "Why did it happen? You said his dad caught you. Why were you kissing in the first place, was it just a curiosity thing or what?" he asked. He had a hunch and hopefully the answer he'd receive would get a certain someone to think a little harder about how the world works.

They all wondered what Dark was doing asking so personal a question, but having only been in civilization for less then a month, proper social etiquette wasn't something he knew very well. so, blushing to the roots of his hair, Kyle waited for a nod of permission from Liam before he said, " I…don't have any family. They were all killed in the war so everyone looked down on me but Liam. He was the only one who cared."

That was when Liam stepped up. "My dad never liked me much. He thinks I'm worthless and beats me when I don't do something right. Kyle's my best friend and…we've gotta stick together."

Dark sighed. Here his jealousy was rearing its head again but what was worse was their tones. They sounded like they were confessing to a crime and that made his heart ache. "Hey now, get rid of those looks. You guys haven't done anything wrong. When you've got a tough life to deal with and only one person you can count on for anything, these things happen. Nothing wrong with it at all. You do what you gotta do ok? Take care of each other and you'll be fine."

They looked a little dubious of the attempted encouragement. It was a good attempt, but not enough to overcome having been raised on prejudice. "Dad said we're…unforgivable sinners and need to appease the gods."

"That is ridiculous. The Golden Goddesses would never ask for such a thing," Link gasped, appalled at the very suggestion.

"I dunno what gods they're worrying about," Dark muttered as he had a sudden idea. "I know! You've heard of the Hero of Time, right? Guy whose gonna come save us all?" Kyle and Liam nodded as Dark pointed back to Link with a flourish. "Well there he is! He is pretty impressive, right? Master Sword on his back, brand of the Triforce on his hand…"

_What are you doing? _Link mouthed when Dark was facing him.

_Just play along,_ he mouthed back and pounced, knocking the blond flat on his back to capture his lips in a gentle but needy kiss. The Hero's lips were an almost forbidden territory that he desperately wanted to learn, grasping at any excuse to taste him. It was wonderful and thrilling and dangerous…and educational. Pulling back from the kiss, Dark glanced over at the two teens who were staring in wide-eyed shock and licked his lips.

"You see that? Link, Hero of Time, chosen warrior and beloved of the Goddesses is my partner. I understand how you feel, I really do, but trust me. There's nothing wrong with you. The problem is with this world and its hateful people to can't accept what they don't understand."

"Now, go get cleaned up for supper and be sure to thank Malon for all her hard work cooking," Link cut in. "I'm sure you've had a long and have a lot to think about." Link kept up his tolerant smile as Liam and Kyle both nodded, bowed and trotted of towards the house. Half way there, Liam reached down and slipped his hand into the other boy's.

As soon as they were gone though, Link's smile fell off like a mask and he gave a flat glare to Dark, "Do you care to explain exactly _what_ you thought you were doing?" he growled.

Dark blinked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "What are you so mad about? I know it was unexpected but look how much it helped," he pointed out. Normally Dark was good at making arguments but today Link wasn't buying it.

"That is not the point. You lied to them and you know I do not condone-"

"I didn't lie to anybody! I just-" he interrupted only to get interrupted himself.

"You just withheld information, twisted the truth and implied the existence of something that isn't there! Dark, you and I do not have that kind of relationship in spite of what you may hope and I am very upset that you would slander my reputation like this!"

Slander his reputation? Dark's anger smoldered at what was being implied of him. "Listen, you. I was just doing what I thought was best. You're the one who told me that we had to always be the righteous warriors. I was just following your instructions!" he yelled.

"And in what way does that involve deceiving people? How is that connected to you ignoring what I told you before dinner. How many times have I told you no? How many times have you pressed me anyways? I am trying to be reasonable with you and take your claims seriously but the way you constantly try to take advantage of ever situation that comes up and every concession I make for you is starting to wear on my nerves!"

Dark grit his teeth, physically shaking he was so angry. "My claims? Where the hell do you get off, you self-centered jerk! This has nothing to do with you, but if you don't think I'm telling the truth then why are you still here with me huh? You think it's some great cataclysmic sin like the rest of the idiots in this country! I guess that means you're condoning their actions then!" Dark screamed.

Link opened his mouth to reply but Dark cut him off, taking one step at a time towards the blond and for each step he took, Link took one back; so great was the heat of anger glowing in Dark's eyes. "Hypocrite! I don't wanna hear it! If you agree with the rest of the world then lets just take 'em back and toss 'em to the Redeads, they'll be better off that way right? Shame on _me, _trying to spread a little hope to the people who have none. I guess I was wrong. I mean, when your father beats you and everyone you know is convinced that your very existence is a crime against nature, you don't need stupid little things like reassurance or understanding, you just need to die _quickly_," he snarled, his voice thick with contempt and scathing sarcasm.

Again Link opened his mouth to try to get some defense but Dark lunged forward, gripping his shoulder like a vice and leaning in to stare into the sapphire pools of Link's eyes. "You tell me that your…reputation is worth more then the gift of a little self-confidence to two boys who don't have enough self esteem between them to fill a glass bottle. You tell me that you'd rather keep your pride and let those kids go on believing that their lives are worthless? If that's the case, then a fine hero you turned out to be," Dark growled. His forehead was pressed right up against Link's and his words quiet and venomous. When Link had no answer, Dark spun on his heel and stalked off in disgust.

Back upstairs Dark sat in bed, more upset then ever so he decided to do something he'd never done before. "Oh Great Goddesses, please help me keep myself together. It's so frustrating having to deal with this. Everything I want is just out of grasp. Seeing those kids, I'm honestly jealous for something like that. I want a partner with no boundaries…I wish he'd stop holding himself back. Help me get through to him…"

For almost an hour Link waited outside, thinking hard about Dark's words. He lay on his back, staring up into the sky as one by one the stars came out. Was he really that bad? He just didn't know anymore. What Dark had said to him hurt all the more because put like that he could see exactly where the boy was coming from. It forced him to see a side of himself that he'd rather not have been made aware of, but now that he was, he couldn't just ignore it. "Damn it Dark…why must you make everything so difficult?" he sighed.

Now Link was more confused then ever but he couldn't fault Dark for trying. He'd seen the small glimmer of hope that lit up in the two teen's eyes, thinking that the savior of the world was just like them. Indeed, in a lot of ways they were similar if Dark were thrown into the equation. Who else could he really call his best friend? Immediately Saria came to mind and close on it's heels were Dark's words.

_They aren't the ones who gave me a life and a reason to live it. They aren't the ones who fought by my side and they sure as hell never lifted a finger to help you out._

Sighing, Link rolled over and tried to fall asleep. The weather was still nice even at night in the warmer part of the year. He and Dark slept outside often so it wasn't the temperature that kept him awake. Finally, with his tail between his legs, Link slunk into the dark house and slipped upstairs to the room he and Dark were supposed to be sharing to slide into bed next to his partner. He'd gotten used to Dark's presence and it didn't feel right to fall asleep without another heartbeat next to him.

In spite of that, he still wasn't sure whether he could admit to being wrong, so he got up early the next morning so he wouldn't have to discuss it. When Dark awoke two hours later he knew what had happened, could still feel the lingering warmth of a body no longer there. With a frown, he got out of bed to get his last Heart Piece out of its hiding spot to stare at it regretfully. "Stupid, overly dense idiot. How many times do I have to give you my heart before you get what I'm trying to say?" Knowing he'd not get an answer from the empty room, he placed it back in the drawer and left to go find everyone.

Downstairs, he found Talon sitting against a low wall, spreading feed out to the chickens he'd gathered and brought inside. "Well g'morning there. I don't think I ever introduced myself. I'm Talon, owner of this here ranch. Any friend of Link's is welcome here," he said with a hearty laugh.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Dark and I'm supposed to help out with chores or something."

Talon just chuckled and pointed down into the gaggle of chickens spread out across the room. "I'm about to let the chickens out but I got three special ones that I don't wanna let out. Think you can find em for me?"

Dark nodded and waded out into the writhing sea of feathers, gently picking one of the chickens up to avoid startling it but as soon as he picked it up it started crowing and flapping its wings all over the place in an attempt to escape. "C'mon now son, you don't gotta be so gentle with em. Show them Cuckoos who's in charge!"

Well, he'd been given permission to be rough so why not enjoy it? He'd grab a chicken, hold it over his head and if he didn't hear anything, toss it to the side. Each one he picked up flailed and scratched until he tossed it away. "That's one!" Talon shouted from his bench and Dark chucked the chicken off behind the bench where Talon sat.

By now the chickens were starting to get a little upset at their manhandling and would peck at him if he tried to pick them up but Dark was determined not to lose to a stupid bird. So with numerous cuts and scratches on his arms he found the second and tossed it behind the bench. The gaggle of chickens was in an uproar and Dark was hot and covered in sweat and blood and wading through the clouds of feathers with a grim determination before he found the last one. As soon as he had it, Talon opened the door and they all flooded outside, leaving the room empty off all but the three special chickens.

"Good work son, you're a natural. You'd make a mighty fine ranch hand just like your partner. Have some milk; you look plum tuckered out," he said, handing Dark a bottle of milk which he drank greedily.

"Now what in tarnation are you doing up there!" Talon yelled. Sure enough, one last chicken had somehow made it up to the rafters where it seemed to have no intention of getting down.

"Don't worry, I've got this." Dark offered, handing back the empty bottle and heading upstairs. Malon chose that moment to walk in and see Dark take a flying leap off the top of the stairs and grab the closest rafter, swinging up to hook his legs on the next rafter and haul himself up. Carefully, he stepped along the rafters as Malon watched from below.

"Ain't he something?" Talon asked with a chuckle as Dark reached the chicken. "He caught all the Super Cuckoos in record time. You still wanna marry Link?"

Before she could answer, Dark's eyes widened and he fell out of the rafters with a cry to land on his back, groaning. Seconds later the cuckoo drifted down from the rafters to land on top of him. Malon ran over to help him up. "Ohmigosh, are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

Dark just flashed his best grin and nodded, staggering towards the door. "Yeah, fine. Its just really hot in here. I'mma get some…fresh air"

Malon watched him stagger out of the house blinking until Talon asked how the barn was coming along. "Oh um, it's going good. It was really hot in there too so I had to step out also," she answered with a secret little smile to herself. Sure the barn was stuffy but Link, who was up in the loft without his shirt on to pitch down bales of hay was what made it too hot to handle. She knew full well she had work to do but she kept finding herself staring at him, watching his muscles flex as he picked up those heavy hay bales. He was definitely an eyeful…

As for Link, he finished pitching all the hay bales down and dropped to the ground to head outside just in time to see Dark striding purposefully around the side of the house. Frowning, he went after him. This time Dark was actually sitting on the box with a chicken pecking at his feet and looking thoroughly depressed.

"Rupee for your thoughts?" Link asked, sitting on the box next to him. Dark scooted to the side so Link had enough room to sit and snatched the red rupee from his hand with a smirk. He tucked it into his pocket then pushed the chicken away.

"Alright, I'll humor you. Do you like Malon?" Link nodded. "Do you like Malon enough to marry her?" he asked petulantly.

Link blinked, taken slightly aback. "You heard about that? That was…something Talon told me when I was a child but it was just a joke. To answer you, no. Malon is one of my close friends but…I would not be happy with so simple a life. I was born for adventure…so I doubt I will ever truly settle down."

Dark sighed, pushing the chicken away with his foot again. "Is there anyone who you like like that? Is there anyone who's important enough that you'd want to stick with them?

Sighing, Link bit back his instinctive answer. Yes there was, it was the boy sitting next to him but he couldn't say that! On the other hand, he did feel that he owed his partner an honest answer. "Yes…I enjoy having you around Dark. I like having someone to talk to. I like having someone to watch my back in battle…I just wish our relationship could involve being naked less often."

Already Dark was getting frustrated. "Why can't you just give me a chance? You like kissing me, I know you do. Why don't you find out of you like anything else?" he asked.

"Why do you insist I try?" Link shot back and Dark took a deep breath.

"Because…you're my best friend. I think a best friend should be someone you can go to with anything, say anything, do anything, _be anything_…but there are parts of you that you're always holding back. Parts of you that you won't let anyone see. I told you that I'm here to help, that I won't leave you for anything so it hurts when you insist on taking things on alone."

Again, Dark was making a little too much sense to argue with. Why was his point of view always coming from such an awkward position? According to Dark, Link was being a stubborn jerk by refusing to even try anything. On the other hand, he shouldn't have to …

And then a sudden thought occurred to him. _I am afraid. I admitted as much last night. The bearer of the Triforce of Courage should have no fear. Damn you Dark, now I have no choice. This is something I must confront now. But, I will do so on my own terms. Still… at the very least I can…_

Link laid his hand on Dark's cheek and slowly leaned in, parting his soft pink lips as his eyes narrowed to shutting. Dark's mind was racing from this, practically singing in exaltation, _I can't believe I finally got through to him! And now he's going to kiss me. Yes!_

Sadly though, it was not to be. The front door of the house slammed and Malon came out, calling, "Link? Dark? Where are you?" and Link pulled back just before they met to answer and she poked her head around the corner. "Oh, there you are. I was just wondering if you guys might want the race track set up after breakfast.

"No thank you. I'm more worried what we can do to help out around her." Link answered calmly, in no way indicating what had been about to happen.

"Alright, suit yourselves. Breakfast in twenty." With that she was gone and Link stood up, apparently not willing to pick up where he had left off. That left Dark, knuckles bone white from clenching his fists so tightly. Outwardly he looked calm, but inside he was screaming and now fully convinced that Fate was going to get in his way however possible.

_Stupid cock-blocking little… Arrgh! _"Stupid bird, get _off" _he yelled, punting the chicken that wouldn't quit pecking at his boots several feet away. When in landed it turned to look murderously at the offender.

"CUCKOOOOO!" it called and from the other side of the yard at least twenty other chickens gave an answering call.

"Dark. Run."

He didn't need to be told twice and half a second later they were sprinting as fast as possible down the dirt horse track as an angry horde of chickens chased along behind, clucking and crowing. They certainly didn't want to get caught in that mess of murderous beaks. The only place to take shelter was the tall building in the back. Dark ran towards it, praying that the door wasn't locked. It wasn't and they waited out the horde of chickens in the storage shed until it was safe.

Dark of course was laughing hysterically and even Link was wearing a small smile. "You did pretty good out there y'know? Thanks for coming with to keep me company," Dark teased and Link chuckled.

"Believe it or not, being chased by hordes of angry chickens was quite common in my younger days."

"I wonder if Meggy was out there." Dark said curiously to himself as he glanced around. There was one single solitary cow sitting there and other then that it seemed to hold extra or out of season farm tools. Also in the back there were seven crates of milk arranged haphazardly. For some reason that bothered Dark's sense of aesthetics when he jumped up to sit on the box in the middle.

"Alright Dark, the coast looks clear," Link said, poking his head out the door

"I'll be right out, I wanna make this look organized."

Link just raised an eyebrow and strolled out without another word and once he was safely alone, Dark was free to explore what he was really interested in. The milk crates sat in the back corner but there were not enough crates to make a perfect square and sitting in the middle, Dark felt a draft coming from the wall behind him. So, after several minutes of grunting and pulling boxes, he finally had a space clear in the back corner but the boxers were high enough that he could only see the missing box in the back if he was on top of it and set into the wall was a small tunnel so low he'd need to crawl through it. Down on his hands and knees he looked into the tunnel to see way back in the back the familiar clear blue of a Heart Piece.

Several minutes later he was jogging around the racetrack with another Heart Piece in his possession. Honestly, anyone with a decent sense of curiosity could find the things with no problem. Regardless though, he ran back to everyone else and the rest of the day they spent helping Talon, Kyle and Liam with the horses.

"We have to be getting back to work," Link said and Dark nodded. Sure, it was nice to be able to relax, but he had to admit that they did have an important job to do. Not to mention that much as he liked Malon, seeing her around Link made him decidedly nervous and he was anxious to get back to where it was just the two of them again.

Malon didn't look pleased with this arrangement but she nodded understandingly. "Alright Fairy Boy, I know you've got work to do. Just make sure to be careful so you come back in one piece alright?" she asked, pulling him into a tight hug.

"I will. And please take care of Kyle and Liam," he answered returning her hug.

"Don't worry, we planned to anyways. Daddy said they can stay on as ranch hands. We can sure use the help around here."

"Alright. Thank you again for the hospitality," Link said to Malon and Talon and then to Kyle and Liam, "You two work hard to earn your keep, alright?"

They stared back with solemn nods as Link vaulted up into the saddle with Dark right behind him and on a quick whim, Link turned Epona, galloping back into the towards the racetrack but instead of taking the track, they turned left and Epona leapt over the walls that surrounded the ranch, leaving them riding off through the fields towards their next destination; back to Gerudo's Fortress.


	13. Killing Two Birds

**_AN: Well my readers, i do apologize for the wait. The rest however should be coming up fairly soon. I have a few chapters that already have sections done so if i buckle down and keep working like i have been, they should be getting done soon. One of the last big unresolved questions about where i wanted to take my story has been answered so all that's left to do is actually type it out. and i apologize for how short it is, but it fits the best for how the next chapter will begin. Reviews are always appreciated and are paying off. To celebrate hitting 100 reviews, i'll be taking requests. Tell me what you guys want to see and i'll do my best to make it for you (Except the scene everyone is waiting for. I won't mess with that.) Anyways, enjoy ~ _**

Kill Three Birds

The sun was just sinking down below the horizon when Dark suddenly realized that the terrain was looking somewhat familiar, as though he'd been here before. Indeed, he had been there before and that narrow gorge off in the distance was the same one where they'd been attacked by animated skeletons all those days ago.

"We're getting close, aren't we?" he asked with a glance at the gorge ahead. Link nodded, remembering back to the same night that Dark was. "Link? How come Ganon has such a weird obsession with skeletons?"

He had a good point, Link had to admit. There were Stalchildren, Stalfos, those flaming skulls and curse bubbles…not to mention the many shadow creatures that were perversions of human flesh. It took him a few minutes to think of an answer. While he didn't actually know himself, it wasn't as though he had anything better to do then to think of an answer to give something more intelligent then 'I don't know.'

"Well…if I had to hazard a guess, I would say that because people are expendable. What they leave behind he sees as nothing more then raw material to use. It seems reasonable to assume that it is easier to create a monster when you have something to work with rather then forming it out of nothing," he speculated, flicking Epona's reins lightly against her back.

Dark frowned, thinking about how that worked for a few minutes. "So what? Does he just kill a bunch of people and drag their bodies back to his evil lair to work magic on?" he asked with a disgusted expression. He'd never actually seen Ganon but from what he knew of the man, it wasn't impossible.

"Actually, yes. Do you remember the skeletons that attacked us last time we passed through this gorge?" Dark nodded. "Those skeletons are probably the bodies of children…"

"Wait a minute, if those were human bones then why didn't you need the Sun Song?" he asked curiously. "Didn't you say that if it was human that your sword couldn't destroy it?"

"No, bones are bones. They are animated and held together by dark magic. They are completely different from monsters that contain an enslaved soul. Those are much more difficult and labor intensive to create. If my blade could not purify a simple Stalchild, we would be in serious trouble indeed."

Grimacing, Dark glanced around as though he expected a repeat attack to happen any minute, "I wonder who they were. Those monsters that attacked us last time weren't very tall."

"They were children killed in the war seventeen years ago," Link answered with a faraway look in his eyes. Though he hadn't been old enough to remember anything from that time, thinking of the war always made him depressed.

Noticing the sudden change in his partner, Dark asked "What was the war about?" He wanted to know because it seemed to be connected to Link and any information could prove useful one day.

It wasn't that he didn't like talking about it, but the facts of the war made Link feel a little guilty. "The birth of the Hero of Time was foretold and the time period it would happen in. I've thought about this a great deal and the only reason I can think of is that Ganon knew even back then that he would claim the Triforce that the Hero of Time would be born and oppose him. If that were the case, it makes sense that he would try to kill me before I could grow into a threat." Link sighed in deep regret, "All those people who died…all for me…"

Dark had never seen Link looking so down. Every other time he'd been feeling sad about something Link had always been there, so he did the only thing he could to return the favor; he leaned forward in the saddle and hugged the depressed blond from behind. "It's not your fault…just look at it this way. If we didn't have you then nobody would survive. That's why you're out on this journey, isn't it?"

Link sighed and leaned back into the embrace. It felt so nice to be held at times like this. If he was on his own the anguish could consume him. At least this way he had something to hold onto and ride out his emotional storm. "It still…feels like my fault. So many people have died for my sake…my own mother included. That is why I have to succeed. If I don't, all those lives will have been in vain."

The setting sun chose that moment to sink out of view behind the mountains, casting a sudden veil of darkness across the land and adding a chilling weight to Link's words. Indeed, with the sudden bite in the air, they both expected an ambush to spring on them. But nothing moved on the cold dusty trail save the crickets.

This time they didn't stop to rest but rode right through the canyon towards the great divide that spanned over the river. After all, they were well fed, well rested and clean for once. All in all, Dark felt ready to tackle anything while Link just rode along stoically, not feeling much at all. "Here is the plan. I brought us here at night on purpose; it is better for sneaking about. I want to go back into the fortress. You remember how cold it was?" Dark nodded. "That was not natural. With bricks like that, their fortress should be an oven during the day. They must have some kind of enchantment. I want to find it. That is the first order of business. After that, we can bomb the gate and make our escape out into the desert."

Dark tilted his head to the side. "Gate? What gate?" Even though he'd gone the same way as Link, for the most part anyways, Dark still failed to show the necessary powers of observation to notice the colossal gate that held back the desert sands. He also failed to show enough magical prowess to sense that the fortress was even enchanted in the first place.

They dismounted Epona before the split log that served as a bridge to get up the incline over the pool of water and jogged up to the carpenters tent. They of course happy to see their saviors again but something was wrong. "One of my boys never made it out," the head carpenter told them. Link sighed.

"I found two… Dark found one but … I don't know where they could have had the last cell at. Never mind, we will go back and look again." Link stated quietly, striding out of the tent without another word. Dark turned and ran after him, knowing from the tension in his shoulders that his partner was upset.

Reaching out, he grabbed the blond's shoulder and pulled him back into a tight embrace. "It's not your fault y'know…" he murmured as Link slumped against him.

"I failed to save him, Dark. So many people have died because of my action, but so many more have died because of my inaction," Link despaired, turning around to return the hug. At this point he no longer cared about giving the wrong idea or about the carpenters watching their emotional exchange from the tent entryway. He just wanted someone to hold onto.

"Aww. C'mon, cheer up. For all we know, he could still be alive. And even if he isn't, we still got work to do, alright? Pull yourself together and let's get out there and kick some ass!" Dark's infectious enthusiasm broke through once again, making Link smile in spite of himself as he pulled the Water Medallion out of his shirt.

"Thanks Dark. Be right back."

"Wh-hey, wa-"

Dark's voice cut off mid yell as he landed with a grunt in a familiar sand bank. He leaned back against his tree and crossed his arms, grumbling about how Link really needed to give him more warning or ask permission before just sucking him up like this. It really wasn't fair how he just-

With another flash of light, Dark was back out and Link had somehow already gotten inside the fortress. They stood by the first empty cell in the room where the Farore's Wind marker still resided. He turned and gave a hand sign for Dark to follow and they both slipped silently down the hall. Outside the chill of the desert night was very different from the icy breeze that blew through the fortress. Link's eyes slitted, half-shut as he walked, using his magical sense to back trace the location of the enchantment. Up the ramp the walked to the second floor of the fortress and as they walked into the room with the second vacant cell when a sudden tap on the shoulder snapped Link out of his reverie. He opened his eyes to see Dark staring pale faced up at the wall. "I think we found our carpenter…"

Hanging up on the wall was the carpenter. In traditional trophy form of the Gerudo, his body was upside down with his kneecaps broken allowing his legs to be turned sideways. The poor man was obviously already dead for some time judging by the cold grey color of his skin. Horrified at seeing this, Link collapsed against his partner with a quiet whisper of "I failed again…"

Dark caught Link and hauled him to his feet again. "Hey now, this isn't the time. We're in dangerous territory so you can grieve later, right?" he asked, giving his partner a gentle shake. It was odd for him to be the one pushing to get working but at the same time he felt that Link needed to keep focused or he'd stop moving. If that happened, who knew if they'd get moving again in time.

Link sighed and nodded slowly, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath to focus back in on the flow of magic pulsing through the fortress. It lead out onto the balcony and Dark kept watch as Link crawled to the edge of the balcony and looked over the edge. It wasn't that big of a drop to the desert sand, a doorway and the white-clad Gerudo guarding it.

Link crept back from the edge, flashing one finger and gesturing over the edge to symbolize one guard. Dark nodded, gliding like a shadow up to the edge to take a look. The guard was waiting below, dutifully watching the other direction. Suddenly, a thick leather glove clamped down over her mouth and a rough pull dragged her off her feet and into the darkness of the fortress without ever a sound being uttered.

He dragged her into the fortress and smacked her head against the closest wall, dropping her unconscious body like a sack of rocks right as Link walked in. "Was that really necessary?" the blond asked as Dark casually dusted his hands off. "Probably not, but it sure is fun. I owe the ladies as many extra punches as I can squeeze in."

Sighing, Link shook his head. "All that for your petty sense of vengeance?"

"It is not vengeance! This is so much more then that, this is my divine retribution! I'm meting out punishment to the group that tried to hurt you and I'm not killing anyone so I'm totally justified!" Dark cried indignantly.

"I think that makes you sound rather full of yourself. Quit messing around," Link muttered with a flat stare before turning to examine the room.

Here, it was even colder then the rest of the fortress and infinitely more majestic. Stylized pillars ringed the room in a half circular arch, making a kind of approach to three great stone lion heads, each of which had a door in its mouth. Unlike the res of the fortress, the floors here were not paved, covered in nothing but sand.

"The fortress isn't all that big. Let's split up?" Dark suggested, leaning towards the head on the left and Link nodded, heading for the middle door.

Back outside, one of the sentries noticed that the watcher in white was gone and gathered a group of Gerudo guards to storm in and kill the intruders when a cool voice sounded from the back of the group. "Wait. They've started the trials. Stand down," the acting Leader called from the back. Though they all obeyed, not one of the Gerudo warriors wasn't itching to repay the humiliation they'd suffered at the red-eyed warrior's hands, but the leader was right. Gerudo law stated that once a person entered the trials, they could not be interfered with until the trial was complete or forfeited. That was the law and it would be followed to the letter.

Of course, all the guards knew what the plan was. The purpose of the trials was to determine if someone was worthy to become the next Spirit Walker; the title for the leader of the Gerudo clan. By law, only one male would be born to them every thousand years. That was Ganondorf, who had been named King of the Gerudo. Underneath him was the Spirit Walker and to qualify for the title, one had to pass all the trials. If a Spirit Walker was already in office, passing the trials would permit the Spirit Walker to be challenged for her authority.

The test itself wasn't hard at all; simply get to and open the large treasure box in the ruins to bring back its contents as proof of success. Once that box was opened, the trials were over and the guards could flood in and attack. Furthermore, allowing Link and Dark to undertake the trials was a very low risk course of action since politically, only a woman could become the Spirit Walker. So, if on the off chance they did manage to complete the trials and knew the laws of the Gerudo, it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference. That being the case, everyone was content to sit back and wait.

In Dark's room was a small sandy arena with a few large boulders in the middle and very simply, a group of Lizafos; humanoid lizard warriors with needle like short swords. With only a high screeching battle cry they lunged forward. While fast and very agile, the reptilian's weapons were more designed for stabbing rather then slashing, so for a master like Dark, it was the easiest thing in the world to side step a thrust and hack off the offending arm.

In and out he darted, unable to resist the opportunity to play with his food. One of the lizards screamed, a high shrill sound of frustration; even three against one, they couldn't manage to land a single hit on the black swordsman for every time they tried, he'd be just out of reach. Dark flashed a taunting grin, slipping past one of the Lizalfos' guards to pull it into a rough killing embrace with his sword protruding out its back. A quick kick knocked its lifeless body off his blade as, once again, he came within inches of being stabbed. As the cold steel blade slipped just under his right arm, Dark spun the other direction and with his arm held straight out, his spin neatly decapitating the thing, leaving only one left.

The lizalfos, unlike most monsters, had at least a vestige of intelligence. The final monster knew it was outmatched as it searched frantically for an exit, but the doors stayed barred, indiscriminate of who needed to escape. Slowly Dark approached, a sadistic smirk spreading across his face as he strolled towards the panicking reptile with a gently swaying gait. He was relaxed. He was confident. He was a predator.

Just ten seconds later, Dark was calmly wiping blood from his sword to kill time as he waited for the bars to raise off the door. They did, and instead of a chest appearing, a small key dropped out of the ceiling to land with a quiet clanking noise at Dark's feet. He picked it up curiously, turning it over in his fingers. The door ere wasn't locked so he dropped the prize into a pocket and left the room.

The door opened and immediately the difference in temperature was noticeable. The chilling aura of the previous room was suddenly gone, replaced by a steamy humidity that had the boy's hackles up. A short hall with close together walls with a passage to the side could hide an ambush. Though the passage seemed to be short, Dark actually noticed a moment later that it simply hit a wall and continued some twenty feet above. Looking up, he eyed the rise suspiciously before taking the right passage.

It was like it was taunting him. This room was probably a massive labyrinth that he'd be lost in for days without ever finding an exit and Link would have to come and save him. _As usual, _he thought dismally, wondering how he'd manage to find his way out. Especially with what had to be the exit so close and yet so frustratingly far. Well, no point in sitting around worrying about it, so he took the passage on the right. He didn't get very far as a sudden wall of flames burst from the ground. The sudden blast of heat had Dark staggering back with a startled cry. "Well, guess that ways not gonna work," he muttered, going back to take the opposite turn off.

This time, there was no fire but a giant round boulder was rolling right past him. He tentatively poked his head around the corner and sure enough, another was coming and another after that. Somehow a row of boulders was set to keep rolling down and make the passage more or less impassable without sustaining some kind of injury. He did see enough, however, to determine that the rocks were rolling down a pretty steep hill that could connect back to the central path, which would make his giant labyrinth theory completely off base. Growling under his breath, Dark walked back to the door he entered from, turned around and took a running dash at the wall, using his momentum to actually run up it, but not quite far enough. Quickly, almost on reflex he whipped his sword out and stabbed it into the wall, climbing up to stand on the flat of the blade and that put him close enough to step up to solid ground. Smirking, he bent over the drop to wrench his sword free with a kind of smug satisfaction. Stupid fortress, trying to get the best of him…

Over on the other side of the training grounds, Link's trials were a bit more straightforward. A short set of stairs led him down onto a small ledge in a room with several stone pillars sticking up out of a pool of lava. "This again?" Link rolled his eyes and took a running jump over the lava. Off to the right was a door, or he could take the door straight ahead. This next jump was too far for the Hero to make on his own but he wasn't all that concerned. He'd learned long ago to have faith in his tools and so a quick tap of his heels together and his body was suddenly weightless, hovering over the pits of boiling magma to the other side. All in all, he wasn't too impressed as he tapped his boots again to return them to normal. This place was like a wannabe temple. It had possibility but compared to where he'd already been it was nothing special.

Link came out into a circular room with a large stone statue with four faces of one eyed ogres surrounded by a moat of lava. He frowned, wondering what to do when the floor beneath him started to spin, giving him a view of each face and he rolled his eyes.

"Is this honestly the best the Gerudo could come up with? The mediocrity is starting to get boring," he grumbled to himself, sending an arrow flying into each of the statues eyes. Such things were not the least bit difficult for a master marksman like Link.

"Agreed!" Dark called from a ledge at the top of the room. He slipped himself off the edge to land on the rotating stone slab with a grin. "Nice shootin' Rex," he complimented, glancing at the arrows sticking our from dead center of the four ogre eyes. "Not that this place stands any chance against us. Nothin' special."

As much as Link agreed, he didn't want to encourage that kind of thinking. "Don't get cocky," was the best he could come up with, and even that was lacking in conviction. Not that the attempt made the slightest bit of difference. Dark's eyes still sparkled mischievously as he jogged back over to the door to kick open the small chest waiting for him there. Indeed, as they traversed the training grounds, nothing came up that was too terribly difficult. They passed the rooms quickly and amassed a small collection of keys in a short amount of time.

There was next to no trouble until they arrived in a room with a giant silver block bearing the Gerudo crescent moon on its surface blocking them from proceeding. Doing a quick calculation, Link determined that the face he could see was the size of sixteen of the blocks he was used to dealing with. Therefore, if it was a square, then it was probably the rough equivalent of sixty four of the stone blocks he was used to pushing around; far too heavy to move. Aside from that, the only other noticeable feature of the room was a door, but when Link tried to open it, to door wobbled around and tried to smash him.

It was only quick reflexes that kept the blond from getting knocked flat on his back; that and the fact that he'd seen these fake doors before in the Fire Temple. Muttering angrily under his breath, he placed a bomb by the door, lit it and stomped away. Seconds later the bomb exploded and the resulting shockwave blasted the door to pieces, leaving the irate Hero to go to where the door was and slide down the wall, sighing. He'd been ready to launch into a tirade about how this place wasn't giving him a good vibe and how this room seemed to be a dead end when he felt it; a weak pulse of magic flowing through the wall. It was different from the trail he'd been following, more like the illusions in the Shadow Temple.

Dark watched his partners actions curiously. Link was being abnormally restless, almost bipolar. First he was pacing around, then slumped against the wall and a second after that he jumped up and started digging through his shirt for something. Stepping back next to his partner, Link glanced through the eye of truth for less then two seconds before putting it back. "Well Dark, someone seems to think they are clever. It is just like the Shadow Temple. Would you do the honors?" he asked, going back to kneel by the wall right under the spot where the illusion was centered. Dark nodded and took a run at his partner. Link locked his fingers together, making his hands into a step and as Dark stepped into his hand he pushed up, catapulting the boy into the air.

"Alright, I'm up. Be back in a sec," Dark said, sticking his head out. Link gasped, paling visibly from the unexpected sight of seeing his partner's seemingly severed head mounted on the wall before vanishing again a second later. Link sat back in the sand, staring up at the sandstone block illusion that concealed where Dark was. Hopefully it was only a small side area as they normally were. Otherwise, not only could Link be kept waiting out there for quite some time but his partner might well run off on his own to do something foolish.

"I hope you don't do anything too stupid up there. If it is too large then come back and get some assistance. I do not wish to spend an hour waiting," Link grumbled to himself, immediately jumping to the worst case scenario as he normally did. In response to his complaint, the cold metal of a small key flew out of the wall and smacked the blond in the forehead.

Dark dropped out of the illusion looking slightly put out. "There's a huge giant monster up there and traps all over the place but behold! A miraculous vision came and made me turn around! Are the Goddesses finally giving me common sense? Let's hope so," Dark said with a flat stare, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Anyways, nothing much else there. So, that way then?" he asked, gesturing to the giant stone block.

"I do not think so. That looks far to heavy to push out of the way. Perhaps we missed something back in a previous room. I have not been on the lookout for illusions as I worked so it is possible…" Link's voice trailed off into nothing as Dark pushed past him, tugging his gloves off by the fingers to lay his palms against the smooth stone.

"Too heavy huh? Watch and learn, oh ye of little faith." he snorted, unbuckling his belt and pulling black tunic over his head to set on the ground as he set his shoulder to the block and pushed. Dark grit his teeth, forcing more of his body when the block refused to move. It really was way too heavy for Link to have ever managed but Dark was determined not to lose out. If he couldn't move the block, he'd look like a complete idiot especially after that macho display of confidence.

Link watched from the side as Dark's entire body broke into a sweat, his muscles cording out from the strain. Amazingly, the block shifted. Inch by inch Dark forced it back, the stone scrapping along the walls of the tunnel he pushed it down. Exhaustion was running up at him and only adrenaline and the desire to impress his partner kept it from overwhelming him. Just when he thought he couldn't push it any farther, the block dropped into a hole sized to fit the block perfectly, making it into a section of the floor, leaving the tunnel ahead free of obstruction.

"See? Told ya I could do it," Dark choked out in between pants. Again Link was struck by the boy's iron resolve. He'd already proven himself right and as far as Link was concerned, he'd earned some rest from an ordeal like that but he refused to give into his weakness. Dark refused to rest in spite of how his breath came in labored gasps and his body trembled from the strain. He just walked, albeit a little unsteadily back over to pick up his shirt and belt before turning and trudging back down the tunnel he'd just opened.

Several times Link offered to stop so they, which really just meant Dark, could rest but he'd hear nothing of it, stubbornly marching down deeper into the fortress. Walking along behind, Link was left with a clear view of the sheen of sweat glistening of the bare skin of his partner's back and he found himself wishing he had a body like that. Sure, Link was strong on his own, but he'd just witnessed something amazing. Not to mention that constantly fighting had left the Hero with a deep respect for strength of any kind whether it be physical, mental, emotional or any other type. He had to admit once again to being slightly envious.

Sadly, he didn't have any more time then that to think as the hall made a hairpin turn to go back parallel to how they'd just come and the door put the room right next to the previous one. "I think this is what we are looking for," Link stated. He was staring through several layers of wire cage walls to a large treasure chest in the center of the room. The only path went to the left and slowly spiraled inward on the box and that path was blocked by a number of locked doors. Luckily, they still had their collection of keys. "Dark, you really should sit down before you pass out," Link suggested again, but Dark just shook his head as the lock dropped to the floor with a metallic clank and the door slid open.

"Nah, I'm alright, really. In fact, I feel great," he replied. Link didn't believe it for a minute, opening the second door.

"Well you certainly seem exhausted and it is not as though I would look down on you for pausing to catch your breath, particularly not after a stunt like that."

Dark chuckled and ran ahead to the third door and jamming his key into the lock. "Nah. I'm not tired at all, see? You're just basking in my amazingness. I could have done this whole damn thing by myself if I wanted to," he declared confidently.

Link just shook his head indulgently. "I'm sure you could. What with your Herculean abilities, I almost feel left out. I don't really have anything important to do that you could not, oh fearless leader." Dark turned around to watch and in a rare act of childishness, Link stuck his tongue out in passing to the fourth door.

As soon as it was open, Dark was racing out ahead again. "It's only natural that you're jealous of my natural talent, but don't worry Link, you're as a invaluable partner and believe it or not there is still a way that you can make yourself useful," he suggested, kicking the next door open and running ahead to the next.

Link's eyebrows raised, partly in respect and partly in curiosity. How on earth did he have so much energy left? And of course, there was still their little contest going on and he was curious about that too. "Oh? A job for me? How thoughtful of you. What exactly might I be doing to help out the cause?" He asked, taking yet another key from his pocket as he approached Dark and the door.

Dark grinned, snatching the key out of his partners hand and draping his tunic and belt over Link's outstretched arm, putting the key in the lock himself. "Hold my shirt of course," he teased, running ahead again to avoid getting an elbow in the ribs. They continued back and forth like that as the spiraled inwards towards the box and as they got to the last door, they found that no keys were left. Link was busy digging through his pockets and Dark was looking around curiously.

"Y'know, I've been thinking for a while that this room looks sort of familiar. Take out the Lens of Truth and take a look at the ceiling," Dark suggested, sticking a foot through the holes in the wire fence to see if it would hold his weight. Shrugging, Link followed the instructions and sure enough there was an invisible opening in the ceiling two doors back. "Don't worry, nothing up there but a box. I got it!" Dark called, running back out towards the illusionary ceiling.

That room was most likely the entire reason the walls were made out of metal wire and Dark, always eager to impress, jumped at the wall to climb it. Of course it was pride that prompted him to volunteer in the first place in spite of how his arms screamed at him. He barely had it left in him to hold himself up, but his boots fit into the holes also so he made it to the top, claimed his reward and a moment later was unlocking the final door and only then did Dark allow himself to sit and rest for a moment while Link claimed the Gerudo Treasure.

As soon as he opened the box and took out the arrow that waited inside, the guards who'd been waiting all snapped to attention as their commander shouted.

"Guards! The trial is over. Kill all intruders."

Immediately they all lowered spears and rushed in, splitting off into three groups to search every room. Since Link and Dark had already been through all the rooms, most of the traps were inactive, allowing the guards to run through without any resistance. They all converged on the final room, running through the wire cage and posting a sentry at every door as a kind of honor guard for the commander who marched around the spiraling path to her second in command who waited at the center. "Status!" she barked, making her subordinate wince.

"Yes ma'am. We have guards posted in all the rooms and there is evidence the intruders were there…however we cannot find them."

The Gerudo commander was a stern woman, not the type to suffer fools lightly. To her, it seemed the entire guard corps was simply incompetent and she screamed her rage at everyone in the room, cursing them for their inability to find the two boys who sat silently in the hidden chamber just above them. Not silently, as Dark was holding back snickers. Link pulled the blue Medallion out from the string where it hung around his neck and held up two fingers indicating two minutes and Dark nodded, vanishing.

Farore's Wind really was a convenient spell. Since he'd cast it the first time, as long as he was in range Link could warp back to the initial place he'd cast it as many times as he wanted as long as he didn't set a new warp point somewhere else. That was the drawback of the spell, it could only be active in one place at a time. Link reappeared in the dark chamber several floors above his previous position right next to an empty prison cell. As soon as he was there, he released Dark from the Medallion and the two jogged down the hall to the outside.

The stone fortress no longer held the eerie chill it once held. That arrow from the box was the center of an enchantment that kept the fortress imbued with a cold that defied even the heated glare of the noon day sun. It was still cold in the fortress and as they ran outside it was colder still. The full moon sat high in the sky, casting its cool light across the desert landscape. From their ledge, Link and Dark looked out onto a deserted plain before dropping to the sand.

"It looks as though my distraction worked. All the guards are down below, searching for us. I do not know how long they will stay occupied, so we should hurry. We also now have this arrow and if it works the way i believe it does, it should prove useful."

Dark nodded and ran along behind his partner, enjoying the cool breeze blowing across his bare chest. It was nice to finally have some fresh air again. Moreover, he was impressed that Link thought to use the Gerudo treasure as a decoy. It made him wonder what else was running through the boy's mind and if it was as genius as this; Killing two birds with one arrow...

Dark's curiosity was soon sated as Link ran up to the gate that divided the Gerudo Fortress from the desert and laid a trail of bombs along the bottom of the wall. He watched with a kind of odd fascination as Link stepped back and drew a single arrow, drawing it back until it started to glow red. It was the enchantment he'd learned from the fire arrow at the lake to make his own fire arrows. Once the arrow released it immediately burst into flames, setting off the row of bombs. The chain of explosions released a shockwave that knocked them off their feet and sending shards of wood and bits of sand flying through the air…and this time, it was Link who protected Dark from the rain of debris.

Once the smoke cleared Link helped his partner to his feet and pulled him towards the gate where the bottom two feet of wood was gone. "Hurry. Someone will have heard that," Link warned. Together they ran off into the desert.


	14. The Desert Colossus

_**AN: Not much to say here today. I realize the previous chapter wasn't the best. The way my plot points go, eh... I should have put more work into it. This one should be much better so enjoy. There are only three chapters left and dont' forget to give me a request if you haven't already ~ Thanks ~**_

The Desert Colossus

On the edge of the Gerudo's Desert Link and Dark ran through the desert sands, hoping to get away in case any Gerudo guards were in pursuit, with Link still carrying a black tunic under his arm and Dark running shirtless. They ran for almost ten minutes until Dark collapsed, still exhausted from the backbreaking exercise of shoving a sixty-four block stone slab. The immense weight had taken a strenuous toll not just on his arms but on Dark's entire body and it finally gave out beneath him.

"Damn it all Dark, I told you to get some rest. Why must you be so stubborn?" Link growled, frustrated by his partner's lack of common sense.

Dark just chuckled breathlessly, pushed himself to his feet and started walking again. " I dunno… I guess, even though I'm always yelling at you about it, I kind of admire how you always give everything you've got. It's like you're completely committed so you don't hold anything back," Dark breathed, his voice seemed oddly distant as he spoke, lost in his own memories. He was busy thinking hard back over everything that had happened.

_From the beginning in the Water Temple when they'd first fought, Link battled with everything he had, even though Dark was clearly the superior fighter. He'd come out on top that time for several reasons; Dark had gotten cocky, didn't know his opponents other weapons, never wanted to hurt the boy in the first place. After that, he'd seen the wounds his former master inflicted but Link didn't like talking about it so he could only imagine what had gone on._

Several steps behind, Link had to strain to catch his words. It made him walk a little faster to close the gap and as he did, he couldn't help but stare…

_In Kakariko, Link refused to harm any villagers, even though they tried to kill him several times and turn innocent kids into human sacrifices. That of course had lead to the creepiest things Dark had ever seen in his life, but Link tackled an entire temple full of undead zombies with a smile of all things. Not to mention how just minutes after getting part of his soul sucked out of his body Link was on his feet and ready to keep going through the temple. _

He'd already told Dark he wasn't interested, so why couldn't he keep his eyes off him?

_Next, the Stalchildren. Even when faced with an enemy he didn't have the strength to defeat, Link calmly assessed the situation and tried plan after plan until he found one that worked. He didn't flinch from the possibility of being molested by a group of Gerudo guards, although thinking back on it, Dark couldn't imagine that Link didn't have a plan even then. The blond had some kind of spell that allowed him to instantly warp to a certain room, even from being handcuffed to the wall; he'd been able to vanish at Dark's instruction…so why had he never said anything about it? _

The cold glint of the moonlight made Dark's pale skin seem to sparkle luminously. It gave the boy a much softer look; more fragile, almost ethereal…

_The most obvious answer was to avoid a confrontation. But…it was also the biggest piece of proof Dark had that Link needed him around. Without that, did he really have any ground to stand on? So that was it, then. Link was holding back to avoid having to admit to being wrong? Or was he embarrassed to admit that he actually wanted Dark around?_

Without thinking, Link grabbed Dark's shoulder and pulled, spinning him around and leaning in to press their lips together. Dark's eyes popped open in shock. Link was…kissing him? That thought registered and all other thoughts fled his mind as he focused on keeping his knees from folding under him. Tentatively he pulled closer, wanting nothing more then to keep this going. Those lips, so soft and warm and hesitant against him had Dark practically melting. The gesture was just too cute for him to handle and his knees caved.

"Nngh…damn. Where did that come from?" Dark asked hazily as he took Link's hand and pulled himself to his feet. Had he not been dizzy from the fall and, admittedly the kiss, he would have sworn that Link was blushing.

"I-I…I guess it is the moon." Dark looked skeptical, making Link blush even more. "I was just…the moon shining off you looks…beautiful," was his abashed mumble. He honestly couldn't think of anything else to say. Something must be wrong with him; Link never took the initiative, especially not towards a relationship. He just acted…and he had no explanation for why.

Thoroughly embarrassed, Link started walking out in front with a thoroughly confused Dark behind him, trying to figure out what was going on. For Link, it was even worse. He'd never been so confused in all his life, not even when he'd first gotten suddenly dropped into the body of an adult and told he had a duty to go off and save the world from evil. At least with that, he knew what the right thing to do was. With this, he had no clue.

Trying to get his thoughts under control, Link stayed in front, staring rigidly ahead to avoid even having to look at Dark.

_I kissed him. I… kissed him. It was not the other way around. I did it…but I am not like that…am I? What if I am?_

Link took a deep breath, trying to calm his roiling emotions. At least out here in the desert there wasn't anything dangerous that demanded his attention.

_It does not matter either way what happens to me. I have one purpose in this life. Once that purpose is fulfilled, what will I do? The Ranch is a possibility but I would not be happy with that. Dark was right, the thrill of the adventure is too much a part of me to give up. I am… not meant to stay in one place._

Walking out in the desert was the first time Link had ever considered his future. Up until now, he'd stayed completely focused on his mission and nothing else. Nothing else mattered. Now he had Dark to deal with and trying to rationalize what was going on now might not get the answer he wanted to hear.

_It is worth considering at least. He is right, no one else has fought for me. No one else but him. After this is all over, I wonder what will happen to him…I don't…damn it all_.

Link sighed, defeated by his very own logic. Still, much as he hesitated to do so, he was an honest man. He'd always prided himself on that. Several steps behind, Dark kept his eyes on his partner, trying to read what was going through his head from the changes in his body language. A tightening in his shoulders or a dip of his head could be irritation and depression, but Dark couldn't actually be sure and that was all the more frustrating because he couldn't tell if he was on to something or if it was just wishful thinking.

"Dark?" Link asked hesitantly, turning around to face his partner. "Listen, I…have been thinking about everything you have told me and this is what I have come up with. Working with you is definitely preferable to working alone. I like having someone to watch my back, someone I can depend on. Sometimes I get frustrated with how you don't take anything seriously but…you also make me smile and I…realized back at the ranch that trying to sleep without your heart beating next to mine…it just didn't feel right." Link sighed, looking down as blood suffused his face, leaving a heated blush on his cheeks. "But…I do not know what any of this means and I am not in a position to find out…"

Through this whole thing, Dark held his breath as he listened, a small bubble of hope forming in his chest, only to pop at the end, but Link wasn't done yet. "…I am not in a position to find out but I do need to know what this means…so, I believe we can compromise. If you can wait until after our quest is finished, then I will give you the chance you desire. Is that acceptable?"

Finally after so long, everything Dark wanted was suddenly being offered to him on a silver platter, but he couldn't even find the words to answer, so he just nodded dumbly and fought back the urge to pounce on the blond and kiss him again. That might not be a good idea though, he knew how hard it must have been to explain his feelings for a solitary introverted person like Link. Dark understood the mindset and had to respect that effort.

_I mean, we're both guys, of course it was gonna be awkward! At least…we're getting somewhere. I just have to wait until its all over._

One last temple…then he's mine, Dark thought to himself as they started walking along again. At least now he had a solid goal in mind, not to mention another reason to see this journey through to the end. Maybe the end would be visible at the top of the next sand dune. It looked like there was a half buried wooden box up there

The continued on for several more minutes in an awkward silence, neither willing to bring up what was just said to the other until Dark stuck his arm out. "Link stop. I…"

"Dark, please. I do not want to talk about it. At least let me get my thoughts in order fi-"

"No." Dark cut him off with a note of panic. "My foot is stuck." They both looked down and sure enough the sand was sliding downwards, flowing around Dark's leg like water. No matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't budge. Instead, struggling only seemed to suck him down faster.

"Quicksand." Link cursed under his breath and without a second thought stepped in, getting down to hook an arm around Dark's chest, trying not to blush and failing miserably. This was a serious situation, but he still couldn't focus! Holding Dark with one arm and the Hookshot with the other he took careful aim at the box sitting up at the top of the sand dune and released. The blades shot out and latched onto the box, ripping them out of the sand's grip and hauling them to the top of the hill where they lay, panting lightly. "Th-thanks…" Dark mumbled, all too aware of Link's arm pinned tightly across his chest. It made his skin feel unusually warm, almost tingling, and he didn't want it to end. And so he lay still, enjoying every moment that Link didn't pull back. The seconds turned into minutes when he realized that his partner had fallen asleep and Dark was more then happy to follow suit.

The next morning, the sun rose bright and early, its harsh glare ripping Dark from his pleasant slumber. As usual, Link was already awake and waiting for him turning to look back down the hill. "Dark. I was just about to wake you. Look…we have company." Link pointed out back towards the fortress and Dark yawned and crawled up over the ledge of the hill to look. From up there, it was much easier to see that the entire hill was actually surrounded by a moat of quicksand, and the moat was surrounded by a battalion of thirty purple-veiled Gerudo guards. They seemed to know about the quicksand and were reluctant to approach.

Of course Dark still harbored a grudge against the Gerudo and couldn't resist the urge to taunt them and the wonderfully nasty idea of just how to do that grew in his mind along with an evil smirk. "Link. Do you know how to work those new arrows?" Link nodded slowly, not at all liking that look on Dark's face. He was so obviously up to something "Good. Make me an Ice Arrow and then take your shirt off." he whispered, making Link roll his eyes and blush slightly as he listened to Dark's plan.

"Good morning ladies!" Dark called jovially, popping up to stroll along the top of the sandy ridge, paying no mind to the sun beating down and shining off his sweat coated body and pulling all eyes on him. "Y'know ladies, I heard that your fortress got attacked. Real shame about your gate, I gotta say. Not to mention how someone made off with the sacred treasure or something like that? Its really gotta hurt, getting made fools of like that…"

Dark turned to admire his handwork, peering down at the Gerudo with his most arrogant smirk, seeing them stare back, seething in fury because they had no way to get to him, but Dark wasn't done there. Holding a hand behind his back, he gestured for Link to join him, taking a casual seat up on the wooden box with bow in hand. And to add insult to injury both of them had their shirts off, shamelessly flaunting their hard toned muscle. "Now…I remember hearing a rumor somewhere that your tribe sometimes goes to hunt boyfriends or something like that?" Dark continued with a casual air, pausing to chuckle. He knew full well that they all knew exactly who he and Link were and he remembered how they drooled over Link but never got to have even a taste, making him a forbidden fruit just outside their reach. "Well y'know, it's a real shame that you had to get robbed. See, my partner and I were thinking we might see if any of you ladies were interested but…" He sighed, holding out his hands like he couldn't help. "Sadly, since you got burned so bad, I don't think we can. It'd be terrible for our reputations, I'm sure you understand."

Smirking, Dark snapped his fingers as though just remembering something as Link knocked an arrow, charging it with magic to contain an icy charge. "That's right! We just happened to find this. Maybe it'll help find the culprit." And with that, Link released the arrow right on the edge of the quicksand pit where it exploded in burst of frigid air that left a small glacier sitting on the quicksand's edge.

"Well, I think that's it. Oh, don't bother looking for us if you find the thief. I think that boyfriend deal is no longer available. You see, I found myself someone better." For the ultimate slap in the face, he dropped to his knees and pulled Link in, kissing him rough and hard enough that he cut his lip. Down below, the Gerudo were screaming bloody murder, having to suffer the insult of the two shirtless swordsman making out just out of reach right after gloating about stealing their sacred treasure; it was driving them insane, partly because watching Link and Dark thrashing around in the throes of violent passion was just too sexy for the female thieves to handle.

Finally Dark pulled back and turned to face his audience again, panting and licking the blood off his lip. "Ooh, damn if that wasn't the sexiest thing ever, huh?"

That was when Link jumped in, though whether his face was so flushed from the kiss or from the desert heat wasn't clear. "Dark! Don't listen to him, that wasn't what it looked like!" he shouted, not wanting to let Dark get the wrong idea for it would surely come back to bite him

Dark, however, just shrugged it off and sat down in the blond's lap. "Oh, it was too, Link. You were trying to swallow my tongue; that's exactly what it looked like," he teased, more than loud enough for the women below to hear before turning to address them one last time. "Don't mind him, he's terribly shy. Well, no hard feelings, right ladies? I think it's time we were off for now. Ciao."

With a wink, a casual salute and a half-taunting, half-flirtatious smile, he slipped his fingers into Link's and they disappeared behind the hill. Without a way to cross the quicksand, the Gerudo could do little more then roll on the ground, foaming at the mouth. To make matters even worse, they had to listen to the taunting echoes of Dark's raucous laughter fading into the distance.

Several minutes later when Dark had finally calmed down, Link had to ask. "Dark, what was the purpose of that? I realize that they are enemies but that was uncalled for."

Dark threw back his head and laughed, earning him an elbow in the stomach. "C'mon huh, I want those bitches to rot. Since I can't kill anyone without pissing you off, I'm going to get in as many hits as I can. Didn't you teach me that there's no such thing as a fair fight when ya speared me through with the Hookshot? Besides, it's fun. Sometimes, you just gotta let loose and enjoy yourself, y'know? In fact, when we finish the Spirit Temple, that's exactly what we're doing. I'm taking you out to have fun my way."

Having fun Dark's way? The thought of that made Link more then a little apprehensive but at the same time, oddly curious to try it. He'd realized that many times whenever Dark suggested something, his first thought was 'no.' That wasn't really fair at all so he'd been wanting to try and change that. "Alright. After we finish." The idea was, if he started showing more lenience, then his partner wouldn't need to do such outrageous things to get attention. At least he'd accomplished one good thing. Dark was smiling.

His smile didn't last for long through, mercilessly killed by the vicious heat as the sun climbed higher into the sky. "Liiiink, it's way too hot. Are we there yet?" Dark whined, walking slumped forward after Link who was simply following a path of flags. Even when the wind picked up and made it difficult to see, he could always see a tall wooden poll with a triangular strip of red cloth telling them which way to go.

Link sighed. Dark was right, it was way too hot, and this wasn't the sort of heat his Goron Tunic could help against. He was actually glad he'd shed his tunic back at the beginning. The sun beat down, sucking the sweat out of his body and making his vision hazy to where even the flags were wavering in and out of existence. Behind him, Link heard the exhausted panting of his partner. He actually felt sorry for the boy. The desert was brutal enough for the Hero of Time who'd already conquered the Fire Temple. How bad must it be for Dark?

The real problem for Dark was that, all human appearances aside, he was a creature of the Water Temple. Aquatic creatures, even amphibians were not meant to be in such dry, arid conditions. Sighing, Link stopped in his tracks, setting an arrow to his bow string when Dark walked into him a moment later. He hadn't been paying the least bit of attention; just putting one foot in front of the other. "Link, are we almost there?" Dark groaned miserably. Link shook his head, still carving this ice enchantment into the arrow and when it was finished, he fired it into the ground a few feet away. The sudden wave of cool air rushing across their sunburned skin felt amazing, and though it started melting almost immediately, the miniature glacier summoned by the arrow was still imbued with the wonderful chill of ice.

As soon as it finished forming Dark jumped on the ice, hugging it against his bare skin and letting the melt water rejuvenate him. Meanwhile, Link was breaking off chunks of ice and dropping them inside his spare bottles to melt from the sun and get them fresh, reasonably cold water to drink. Dark however didn't see the need to use a bottle, turning his head to the side to gnaw on the ice. Normally, he would be scolded for such uncouth behavior, but Link was also exhausted and beyond the point of caring.

That system worked for a while, Link would make a glacier and they'd stock up on water and use it to keep moving and stay hydrated. They'd been walking for several minutes after restocking for the third time when Link had a sudden thought. "Dark? I know this climate must be difficult for you. Would you prefer to wait in the medallion?"

He was trying to be considerate of difficulties that must be plaguing his partner but Dark wearily declined to opportunity. "No…no, gotta stay with you. You might need me…for…something." His determination was admirable and so Link let him stay, and just as well since at the top of the next ridge, they looked down on a small building. It wasn't even so much a building as a circular pillar rising out of the sand. A ramp wound around the outside to the top and an opening in the bottom lead down to an interior area. Seeing the building, Dark's eyes widened and he ran down towards it, desperate to get out of the sun and of course, Link had no choice but to run after him to keep his colleague from hurting himself.

"Thank you! Whoever built this place thank you!" Dark cried as he dropped to the floor inside the shelter. There was a ladder to climb down, but it was completely ignored as Dark threw himself in and dropped to the floor. "Ohhhh, it feels so good in here!" Dark yelled hoarsely as Link climbed down the ladder to join him.

"Yes, it certainly is preferable to being outside," Link agreed, panting himself as he stepped over Dark who was laying in the middle of the floor, soaking the chill out of the cool stone. For the Hero, the first order of business was a fair bit different from his partner's. Before relaxing, he always made sure the area was secure and this desert shelter was not. However, the only threat was a single Skulltula; a large spider whose back resembled a skull. He'd been dealing with them since childhood and had long since ceased to consider them any kind of threat

All he had to do was pull out his Hookshot and shoot the thing and it'd fall to the ground in a burst of emerald flames. "You really should not be so careless when enemies are about," Link chided his lazing partner as a familiar skull token fell to the floor.

"Pff. Enemy. And you took care of it so what's the big…no! Don't even think about it, it is way too hot for that!" Dark cried, seeing Link looking speculatively at a pair of torches that were the only real fixtures in the room. Aside from the two torches and a few clay pots in a corner, the room was completely devoid of anything..

Sighing at the horrible deprivation that he had to put up with, Link flopped down on the cool stone floor and Dark immediately moved over to lay next to him. "So what's our plan Cap'n?"

"We will leave again tonight. That way, we will not have to deal with this heat. We can certainly use the rest," Link mused and Dark yawned, resting his head on the blond's chest.

"Mmkay. Wake me up when we leave."

That night, the moon rose over the desert sands that whipped around by a violent wind that kicked up eddies of sand into a raging storm. Link and his partner Dark sat at the top of the pillar and looked out into the storm sweeping through the next patch of desert that they had to cross. "Dark, you should probably put this back on," Link said, handing the boy's tunic back. In truth, he was hesitant to do so; something about the way the moonlight dyed Dark's pale skin to an almost silver tone captivated him, but he knew what needed to take priority.

Dark took his garment with a frown. "Yeah but… we're going into that?" He asked, gesturing at the sand storm and Link nodded.

"Yes. But do not worry. We will have a guide. Oh, and not to scare you, but there is probably a ghost above your head," Link answered after reading the stone plaque that was the only thing that marked the top of the desert shelter. "Just follow me and we will arrive safely." He assured his dubious looking partner. After all, the plaque said so. That was one thing a Hero just had to accept on a journey like this. Do NOT argue with signs.

Dark rolled his eyes and nodded but was a little caught off guard when Link suddenly stood and took a running leap off the top of the shelter. It wasn't a very high drop to the sandy desert floor but the suddenness was unexpected. Still, Dark was the faster runner and soon caught up as Link ran headlong towards the sand storm.

For Link, it was a little more difficult. The Poe that appeared when he activated the Lens of Truth started floating off immediately with only one warning.

**"I'll only show you the way there once. Coming back, you're on your own."**

So, he ran after the ghost as quickly as he could, which wasn't easy since the Poe made sudden turns, would stop and spin in circles and randomly change directions for no apparent reason. Link also had to deal with the buffeting winds and flying sand everywhere. He soon just kept the Lens pressed right up against his left eye and left the right one closed.

To make things even more difficult, after several minutes of this wild ghost chase, spined green monsters started to rise out of the sand to spin at the intruders. Link had a hard enough time dodging the desert creatures that Dark ended up kicking out of the way anyways.

Deep in the sandstorm, with the wind constantly shifting directions it was impossible to tell where they'd come from but with the Lens protecting his eye, Link saw a pair of red flags flying in the distance and they seemed to be making their way towards those flags. The howling wind grew only fiercer til Link felt like he was running in place, but slowly the flags grew closer and closer. Then suddenly, the wind died as Link and a moment later a very sandy Dark stumbled through the two flags

Turning around, the Sandstorm was still raging behind them and it stopped right before the flags, as though they marked an new area that the weather could not cross. They seemed to be in a low wide canyon and in the very back was the steps of the temple. "Link look! There it is!" Dark crowed happily and they both started running towards the temple just so they could get in. The last temple, and therefore the end of the quest and his date with Link were in reach!

It was a fair distance to run, showing just how large the temple was and carved into the mountainside was the giant image of a woman; possibly depicting the Spirit Sage. Several large rocks and a stone archway marked the way there and just as they were getting close to the steps of the temple, a blue-clothed figure dropped out of the sky. Sheik.

"I see you are still keeping him around. I am not comfortable keeping one of Ganondorf's minions so close," Sheik murmured, his one red eye gazing suspiciously at Dark, who bristled at what the Sheikah was implying of him.

"Yeah! Well I wouldn't have to be here protecting him if you got off your lazy ass and did some work yourself for once!" Dark growled and Sheik's eye narrowed dangerously.

"This mission is far more important than any single person. If you are a threat, against Link's wishes or not, I will kill you if that is what I believe to be the best course of action. The fact is, you are a liability," Sheik stated coldly.

"Yeah, And I'm still here regardless. I see you're angry and what are you gonna do about it, huh? If you think you can beat me then go ahead and try! But even if you manage to win, I wonder how you'll justify beating the Hero of Time's partner when you're not willing to take his place!" Dark yelled but Sheik turned his attention to Link and paid no further attention to the black one the rest of the time he was there.

"Past, present, future...the Master Sword is a ship with which you can sail upstream and downstream through time's river...the port for that ship is in the Temple of Time. To restore the Desert Colossus and enter the Spirit Temple, you must travel back through time's flow. Listen to this Requiem of Spirit...this melody will lead a child back to the desert."

"Bastard, don't ignore me!" Dark snarled. He was cut off by a flow of musical notes from Sheik's harp and his only choice was to sit down and keep quiet.

Link really was quite the talented musician, only needed to hear the song once before he started playing it on his own. The songs were never long but he played it over and over, carving the song into his memory by repetition. He held up his Ocarina as it sparkled with the light a new song.

Sheik put his harp away, but instead of backing away he stepped forward, hand flashing out and before anyone knew what happened, he was Lifting Dark off the ground by his shirt. "Now listen here. I know you think you 're so important running around and playing Hero. Believe me, If I had the choice to help Link in that way, I would, but I have other duties to see to that are just as important. If everyone doesn't do their part, we will all fail. Your purpose was to protect the Water Temple from the Hero of Time. You are an enemy, plain and simple. I have spent the last seven years seeing first hand the kind of deplorable tactics that Ganondorf uses. I believe that you think you're helping. Maybe you have an honest intent to help but in the end, you are his creature and you will answer his call in the end whether you want to or not."

Finally Link tucked his instrument away and intervened. "Sheik, that is enough. Dark has been unquestionably loyal to me and has earned my trust. He will continue to travel with me unless he proves otherwise. Need I remind you that it is not your decision to make?" Link asked sternly, his blue eyes staring down Sheik's red until the Sheik turned and walked away without another word, disappearing in a sudden gust of wind that blew a wave a sand at the Hero, forcing him to turn away. As usual, when his vision cleared, Sheik was gone.

Dark waited, sitting on the steps as he fought a losing battle against a torrent of tears. Could the Sheikah be right? Could it be that he'd betray the one person who meant anything to him? Still, he knew Link believed in him. Hearing the boy stand up for him like that, it made him happy. And then he felt an arm around his shoulders even now trying to comfort him. Damn it, why did he have to be so emotional!

"Link, I… I'm not all that bad." he whispered, wide eyed and afraid. "What if…what if he's right and I…" He couldn't even finish the sentence but Link knew what he was trying to say and for that question, he had no answer.

Once Dark finally pulled himself together, then walked up the stairs and into the Temple. The sudden change in atmosphere was almost palpable; even though it was the middle of the night, none of the cooler temperature made it inside. Instead, the air was dry and dusty and warm, as though nothing in the temple ever moved. Though stagnant, the Temple was also majestic, with two grand snake statues on either side of a larger staircase that led up to two more statues. To the right, another of the giant blocks from the Fortress prevented movement forward and on the other side of the room was a small hole in the wall.

"Hmm. Well Dark, I believe we will need to split up again. It looks like what Sheik said is correct. I must come back here as a child first or we will be going nowhere fast."

Dark sat on the stairs and pouted. "You want me to just sit here and wait for you? I don't wanna wait in here!" he whined, tugging on Link's sleeves.

Link only shrugged. "I will be back soon. However, I never said you had to stay here. If you would prefer to wait outside, feel free." And with that Link was gone, walking back out the door in the fading echoes of the song that would warp him to the Temple of Time.

-D-A-R-K-

For several minutes Dark stood there, staring out the door with his mouth hanging open. "I can't believe he just ditched me like! What an ass!" He paced around in circles for several minutes, complaining about how he'd been unfairly treated when a sudden idea come to him. "What if…Link ran off like that cause he knows the sooner we finish here, the sooner he gets the immense honor of being the Amazing Dark's boyfriend!"

He chuckled, knowing that was complete bullshit but he didn't mind. It kept him entertained and that was worth something. "Alright, so what else can I do while I wait? I know what would be great! I should take a bath! Out here…in the…middle of the desert. Right." Dark sighed and checked his pockets, making sure his two backup Heart Pieces were okay. They were fine, after a quick brushing off. Not only was Dark covered in sand, but most of the contents of his pockets as well.

"Stupid desert. Stupid sand. Stupid heat. " he muttered, walking back outside to try something out. At least in the middle of the night he didn't need to worry about that last one. Still, sand was irritating enough to more then make up for it.

Outside the temple Dark sat on the stairs and tugged his boots off, flipped them upside down and smacked the soles to knock a small mound of excess sand from each of them. "That is so gross," Dark mumbled to himself as he set his boots aside and dropped his belt to get his tunic off. Without the leather belt pulled tightly around his waist, several more streams of sand poured out of the confines of the boy's shirt as he ripped it off and threw it on the ground.

"It's official! I hate the desert!" he yelled. It wasn't just that the stuff invaded his clothes and soiled his belongings but it _stuck to him _in the most inconvenient places. He'd been walking through the desert for quite some time and by now the sand was everywhere and it was starting to chafe some uncomfortable spots. Not willing to put up with the irritation any longer, Dark untied his breeches and kicked them off to stand naked in the setting moonlight.

"I'm gonna look insane for doing this," Dark sighed, resigned to the fact that this might not work. He picked up his Ocarina and played this notes for the Song of Storms. Once through, nothing happened and so he played it again. Maybe it wouldn't work. Maybe it just couldn't rain in the desert. If that was the case, at least the night breeze felt good. It wasn't the case however, after the fifth play through of the song he felt the air start to thicken and grow heavy with the promise of rain. Twice more and raindrops started to fall but Dark kept playing until he had a respectable downpour before setting his instrument down in a safe spot where it wouldn't get wet.

Dark sighed, content in his triumph over the desert… or so he though. What he didn't know was that wet, the sand would just stick to him more. Still, using a kind of shower effect Dark made a valiant attempt to get it off his body, though getting the mass of sand out of his hair would be another matter. That was when he noticed a short distance away that a deep indent in the floor was filling with the rain water. It almost looked like…

"A bath tub!" Dark screamed and jumped in without a second though. The water was deep enough for him to stand up straight in and the water would be up to his shoulders. Grinning blissfully, he sand beneath the surface of the water to scrub the sand out of his hair.

The next morning, when the sun rose over the horizon, Dark was still in his pool soaking as much moisture as he could. The whole arrangement worked perfectly for him. He was an aquatic creature so he loved swimming. He had a choice of withering in the sun or staying underwater constantly until Link came back. The decision was pretty obvious.

-L-I-N-K-

Link appeared in the Temple of Time, the high cold stone archways and stained glass windows allowed it to double as a church but Link had other uses for the Temple. Back in the back was a pedestal that sat in the middle of a carving of the Triforce on the floor, ringed by the Sages Crests. The whole thing was symbolic how the balance had to be and the Master Sword was in the center of it all. Link stabbed his sacred blade into the stone in the middle of the room, feeling the familiar rush of energy surround. He always zoned out, slipping into a state of semi-consciousness while the transformation occurred, and when he opened his eyes, he was back to being his normal eleven year old self.

The first thing he did was to run back outside and take a moment to enjoy the hustle and bustle of Hyrule Castle Town Market. It had been one of his more favorite places to just sit back and watch the world go by. Now that he was back to being a kid again, that sense of urgency he normally felt was gone. He had seven years to work after all. Still though, he couldn't afford to waste time so after a short walk around the town to satisfy his nostalgia, Link returned to the Temple of Time to play the Requiem of Spirit.

The sudden burst of sunlight as he appeared in the desert a little ways off to the side of the Desert Colossus had the boy wincing and covering his eyes with his arm as he trudged through the sand, eager to get inside and out of the heat.

Both inside and out, the Spirit Temple looked exactly as it would seven years in the future. He almost expected to see Dark lounging indolently against a wall waiting for him. Link trotted up the stairs, wondering idly how Dark would react to seeing him as a child. That could be interesting to see if ever he could manage it.

His musings were cut short when he reached the top of the stairs to see that the hole he'd intended to crawl through was already occupied. The woman's long red hair and dark complexion marked her out as one of the Gerudo. Link had more then enough experience to know to be wary of them, but on the other hand, no one ever took him seriously as a kid so he strolled up and leaned against the wall, watching her peering through the hole and muttering under her breath.

At the sound of Link's footsteps, she looked up to see who it was. "Hmm? Hey kid, I haven't seen you around here before. What are you doing in a place like this?"

Link just shrugged, trying to act casual. "Just sightseeing. I was hoping to see some more of the Temple and maybe find a Sage."

The Gerudo leaned back against the wall, resting a hand on her hip. "A Sage, huh? I don't know anyone like that but this temple is no place for kids."

Growling as though his dignity had been affronted, Link pulled his sword. "I can take care of myself. What about you? Is there something I can help with? I don't really have anything to do," he muttered, crossing his arms in the image of a bored kid.

The Gerudo smirked, "Alright, I might just let you help me out, but first, would you happen to be one of Ganondorf's followers?" she asked offhand as though it wasn't really important. Link knew better. Even though he could have lied and said yes, he wasn't going to sacrifice his dignity by doing that. Not for anything.

"No. I hate Ganondorf and I will be the one to kill him," Link growled, narrowing his eyes as he waited for her to move, watching for the possibility of an attack.

She just smiled and stepped aside. "Well now, those are some lofty goals you've got set. Alright, you're in.

"First of all, let me introduce myself. I'm Nabooru of the Gerudo. I'm a lone wolf thief. But don't get me wrong! Though we're both thieves, I'm completely different from Ganondorf. With his followers, he stole from women and children, and even killed people! A kid like you may not know this, but the Gerudo race consists only of women. Only one man is born every hundred years... Even though our laws say that lone male Gerudo must become King of the Gerudo, I'll never bow to such an evil man!"

Link nodded, realizing he'd been wrong to jump to conclusions. True, he'd had bad experiences with the Gerudo race but that was no reason to stereotype. "That is good to hear. So what do you want me to do?"

"Through this tiny hole is the Silver Gauntlets. They let you push and pull very heavy things. But don't even think about trying to take them for yourself!" she cut in quickly. "They won't fit a little kid like you. Ganondorf and his henchmen are using this temple as a hideout and I need those gauntlets to get deeper into the temple."

Nodding, Link got down on his hands and knees when she stopped him. "Wait. One last thing. What's your name, kid?"

It kind of irritated him how every single person called him 'kid' like they were making fun of him. "It's Link."

"Pff, what kind of name is that? Well, good luck Link."

Now he was more then slightly irritated and he crawled into the hole to prevent getting interrupted again. What was wrong with his name? As much as he preferred being a child, at least as an adult no one was so openly disrespectful.

He crawled through the tunnel, now understanding why he had to return to childhood for this. As an adult he was six feet tall; no way would he be able to fit through such a small hole. Aside from being able to fit through the hole in the first place, he encountered very few problems. It was a typical run of the mill Temple. Personally, he felt that the Shadow Temple and Water Temple had both been more difficult as he traversed the rooms.

The air was dry and uncomfortable to breath. Thick with dust that swirled beneath his boots it made for a hot, stuffy environment but it was still nothing compared to being out in the desert or even the Fire Temple for that matter. When the first Stalfos dropped from the ceiling, he remembered Dark's comment. Ganondorf, for some reason, did seem to have some strange liking for skeletons.

The Hero's sapphire eyes stared unblinkingly as the skeletal warrior approached. He was at somewhat of a disadvantage now since putting back the Master Sword left him with a shorter reach and his Kokiri sword was not as strong. Also, the Stalfos had the advantage of a shield that Link did not. He'd had one at one time but it had been damaged and he hadn't had the money to replace it.

Still, he wasn't worried. Stalfos were easy to read, not to mention that in a smaller body he was quicker on his feet and faster to strike. Of course, that was only if he was planning on playing fair. Rather then duel with an unimportant creature like a Stalfos and risk getting injured, he simply tossed a Deku Nut. The blinding flash of light stunned even the undead monster. Link knew well how durable they were so he left a lit bomb at its feet and continued on.

"Three…two…one…" Right on cue the sound of a loud explosion shook the room and Link allowed himself a satisfied smile as he walked out the door. That was how he did things; quick and methodical to keep problems from arising and a few minutes later, after shooting down some spiders clinging to a wall, he was in the main room of the temple.

All the Temples had one central room around which everything revolved, whether it was the elevator in the Forest Temple or the central tower in the Water Temple. These central rooms tended to make themselves self-apparent.

Here, Link entered out on the side of a large three floor rectangular room with a giant statue of the Spirit Sage sitting crosslegged in a meditative pose in the middle of the room. His side and across the room on the other side, staircases wound up the sides to second doors, making the room perfectly symmetrical. That was always an indication of importance. They even had matching statues at the base of each of the stairs. Link jogged up his stairs to the top door only to find that the door was barred.

"Of course. It never fails," he muttered irritably and trotted back down the stairs. The switch to open the door wasn't all that hard to find; it was sitting at the bottom of the stairs and a short drop off a ledge. In fact, the conveniently placed statue worked perfectly to push off the edge to depress the button and open the bars. For some reason, walking up the stairs a second time wasn't quite as exciting…

At the top of the stairs and through the door was some more stairs that lead to a room with a red carpeted pathway with a row of pillars on each side. They lead up to a man wearing full body armor with a gigantic ax sitting in his lap, seated on what looked like a kind of throne to block the door. It was strange though, as Link walked down the pathway the man on the throne never moved, not even when Link was standing right in front of him. The door in the back was barred shut so it was pretty obvious that this iron warrior had to be defeated.

That armor did look pretty durable upon inspection and Link eyed his short sword dubiously. He wondered if it would even be able to penetrate the armor. If his Kokiri Sword wouldn't work, did he have any more powerful weapons?

Seconds later, Link was scurrying away from the lit bomb that he'd gently placed in the armor's lap. It exploded a moment after, sounding along with a cry of anger, then Link heard it.

_Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank._

Step by step the armor slowly moved towards him, hefting its mighty ax to strike down the intruder. Not one prone to panic, Link did the first thing that came to mind. He lit another bomb and chucked it but even with a bomb exploding in its face, the armored warrior never faltered. How many bombs would it take to hurt the thing? Running to the side he noticed a shoulder pad laying on the floor. So he was making progress slowly but making it nonetheless.

The next bomb blew off more chunks of metal but Link also couldn't help but notice that his opponent was now walking faster. _How long do I need to keep this up?_ he wondered, lobbing a forth bomb. This time, the explosion as the bomb had a noticeable effect. It staggered back, most all of the iron armor falling off to disappear; consumed by magical blue flames. From behind that helmet, Link could tell that the monster was glaring at him. Then another problem came up.

No longer weighed down by heavy armor, the Iron Knuckle no longer felt the need to proceed at a stately pace. No, it decided to run and Link, Triforce of Courage or not, did what he felt was the smart thing to do in that situation.

He screamed and ran for dear life from the axe wielding psychopath behind him.

It wasn't that he was giving up, he just needed time to formulate a strategy. The screaming just felt like it fit the mood. Link ran towards the pillars and ran all the way around it to slash the axe warrior right as he was entering them. It roared in pain and with just two swings of its mighty axe sent the pillar crumbling to the ground in a shower of bricks. Under the circumstances, Link felt it was appropriate to scream again.

_Alright, this guy is strong, but he's also very slow. I should be able to outmaneuver him as long as I stay careful._

Nodding, Link ran out into the middle of the room where there was more space to move around. It was a dangerous plan but Link was confident of his abilities. Besides, as heavy as that axe had to be it could only be swung sideways or vertically. As expected, the axe came at him swinging back and forth. Link back flipped out of the way of the first two but on the third one he suddenly dove forward, rolling under the axe blade and coming up right next to his opponent. With shorter arms and a shorter weapon, Link could stab as much as he wanted while immune to retaliation; he was too close to hit with a large weapon like an axe. That was what he though until a hand closed around his neck to lift him off the ground and throw him across the room.

Link's body crashed into one of the pillars with the sickening crunch of breaking bone. He dropped, panting and sweating to the ground to clutch his right arm to his chest. This wasn't the first time he'd broken a bone but it still wasn't a pleasant ordeal to go through. It hurt like crazy but he knew he couldn't afford to lay around on the job. Link rolled to the side at just the right moment as an axe crashed into the ground where his head had been a second before.

He scrambled backwards but not even the solid stone pillars could protect him from the destructive axe strikes. The bricks from the crumbling pillar fell on Link's body, leaving bruises across his shins, chest and arms as he pulled himself out of the way. Hauling himself out of the bricks, Link ran towards the entrance of the room and didn't look back. He didn't need to; the clanking of metal footsteps more then told of the danger behind.

Though his arm was broken, at least Link could still fight, being left-handed. Still, this was not a battle to keep going. He ran straight at the chair at the other end of the room, listening to the footsteps closing in behind him. When he got close, Link jumped at the chair, using it as a spring board to launch himself at the top heavy axe, knocking the warrior to the ground. From there he grabbed his sword and stabbed over and over into the warrior's surcoat until he stopped twitching to be consumed in a magical pyre of blue flames.

Wavering on his feet from the injuries, Link trudged out the now open door and out into sunlight. There sat a large treasure box in the palm of the Desert Colossus. As expected, the Silver Gauntlets rested in the box, just as Nabooru had told him. Speaking of Nabooru….

Down in the desert sands the Gerudo woman's screams rose like prayers from far below. Link peered over the edge to watch as she ran to the side toward the desert only to trip as a vortex of black energy appeared beneath her feet, sucking her down in to Nayru only knew where while two witches on broomsticks circled above, cackling madly.

Link tightened his grip on his sword but there was nothing to be done. A jump from that height would undoubtedly kill him. And so, Link walked back inside and played his song to warp back to the Temple of Time.

-H-E-R-O-

Back in the future, Link materialized on the platform back in front of the Desert Colossus. Walking towards the entrance, it was hard to tell that seven years had passed. That was when he saw all of Dark's clothes laid out in the sun. As for Dark himself, he was lounging contently in a pool of water that had formed in the exact spot where the dark vortex swallowed up Nabooru seven years before.

"Link!" Dark yelled, climbing out of the water, forgetting his complete lack of clothing to pounce and hug his partner. Suddenly remembering his nudity, he expected to be scolded, not the scream of pain that echoed from the Hero's mouth.

"M…my arm…I broke it as a child; why is it not healed?" he asked through gritted teeth. Without asking, Dark grabbed his arm, pressing along it and mumbling worriedly.

"This is bad. It looks like your arm healed crooked. I could fix it but…do you trust me?" he asked, a pained look in his eye as Link nodded, panting and sweating. Taking a deep breath, Dark took a hold of either side of the break…and snapped it.

Link squeezed his eyes shut, roaring in agony as Dark broke his arm for a second time then twisted, setting the bone back in position. When he opened his eyes again, Dark was holding out a Heart Piece to heal the break and in spite of the pain, Link started laughing. "Dark…what would I do without you?" Smirking, Dark shrugged and sat down on the steps.

"I'unno. Feel free to have a bath before we get started if you like. Don't worry, I won't watch. Promise," he said with wide-eyed saintly innocence.

"I am not sure I believe that…"

"Oh, it's just the sand in your breeches talking, Go on, get in."

"You are not conversing with anything in my breeches any time soon."

"Awww."


	15. Fire and Ice

_**Thank you for waiting! This is the last part i was unsure about how i wanted my plot to progress but its all resolved. Parts of it just didn't want to cooperate and in the end i decided to split this chapter in half to keep it to a manageable length. We're going to be straying from the norm again soon as you'll see at the end. Hope everything is explained well. Read, Review- It makes me smile. You guys know the drill ~**_

Fire and Ice

In the end, Link did decide to take the offer of a bath and true to his word, Dark kept his back turned the entire time, though he did stick around to provide conversation. "I don't get what the problem is, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before," Dark grumbled, laying on his side and facing away while Link scrubbed himself free of the cloying desert sand.

"It is the principle of the thing," Link explained patiently, ducking his head underwater to get the sand out of his hair. He really didn't get that. His broken arm transferred from childhood to adulthood but the sand in his clothes was still waiting for him. Apparently the Master Sword's time travel ability wasn't designed with comfort in mind. That was when Link pulled his head up out of the water, tossing his hair back to slap against his skin. "Dark? How did you dry off?"

Dark blinked, staring at his partner like it was the stupidest question ever. "I didn't. If you want to, I guess you can always lay out on the stone and sun yourself…" Link glared and Dark stoically ignored it "What? I bet a tan would make you look even better," he growled teasingly. He yelped when Link splashed water at him.

Sighing, Link climbed out of the water and shook himself off like a dog, spraying water all over the place before pulling his clothes on. In the interest of comfort he left his belt off and his tunic unbuttoned. He also had the foresight to slap a hand over Dark's mouth to stop whatever suggestive comment was coming. "Don't even think about it. I am rather upset with you."

Dark blinked, jogging up the stairs into the Temple after Link, "Huh? What did I do?"

"You broke my arm," Link replied matter-of-factly, strapping on his Silver Gauntlets and marching up to the giant stone block on the right side of the room, setting his shoulder to it and pushing. Immediately, strength coursed through his body and suddenly, the block wasn't nearly as heavy as he remembered it. It slid back to drop into a hole in the floor just big enough to hold the block and they proceeded in.

"Aww, C'mon Link, I wanted to help! It healed the right way, didn't it?" he argued but Link didn't stop.

"That still does not make it alright to break my arm at least without asking my permission first. You could have explained what you were going to do," Link snapped, spinning around abruptly to glare irritably at the perpetrator.

Dark teetered backwards as his heels hit the edge of a step, flailing his arms to hold his balance as Link turned and stalked away. Around the corner, the hall split three ways with a Beamos sentry statue guarding, its single eye slowly circling its perimeter to shoot a ray of energy at anyone who intruded.

For Link, a statue like that was old, old news. They'd grown slightly more durable over the years but not more intelligent and for a single eye watching 360 degrees, it wasn't hard at all for Link to just time his walk so that he stayed behind its range of vision and headed right on up through the door on the right. From somewhere behind him, he heard the sound of a Beamos laser firing, and Dark's yelp before the door slammed shut behind him.

Dark scowled and dropped to the ground, sitting cross legged right outside the edge of the statue's firing range. "What's wrong with him? Is this how ya thank someone for making you not crippled? Stupid self-righteous little…" His voice trailed off into the distance as a moment later the door opened and Link strolled back out, compass in hand.

Humming quietly under his breath, Link hopped down the stairs and walked right past the statue and it never even noticed him. Grumbling about showoffs, Dark made a mental note to ask how he did it later.

"So you got the compass?" Dark asked, eying the heavy artifact in Link's hand. It was odd because as far as he knew, this was the first such item they'd found in this dungeon. He received a nod in reply.

"But we don't know where the map is?" Another nod.

"Do not worry. We should be headed soon to the central room. If my theory is correct, then this temple is more or less designed symmetrically so we should not have a problem finding our way around," he explained, ignoring Dark's completely lost expression.

"Wait a minute, I'm confused," he started when Link cut him off.

"Remember in the first room, the path went left or right? I believe this Temple is set up so that the left side more or less mirrors the right."

That made a great deal more sense though it again made Dark feel inferior. "Why can't you just say that in the first place? Honestly, who ever heard of an eleven year old kid using words like 'symmetrical?'" Link's shoulders stiffened as he walked through the next door, again effortlessly avoiding the guardian statue's gaze. "A point of advice. Do not call me a kid. It irritates me."

Dark blinked, confused and slightly hurt. Back in the Shadow Temple, Link had been so uncharacteristically upbeat and chipper, especially considering the location; a Temple dedicated to blood, death and pain. And truth for that matter; Dark was still trying to figure out how that fit in. Here in the Spirit Temple, Link seemed to be bipolar and extremely irritable. It seemed to start right when they entered.

Could it be that in some weird "Hero Only" disease that the temples were tied into his emotions?

Something strange like that certainly wasn't impossible. Dark often had the feeling that there was more going on in his partner's head then he would ever let on. Maybe Link didn't even notice his impossible mood swings. Sidling along the wall, Dark made very sure to stay as far away from the slowly circling statue as possible, running out the door. They were back in the main room with the giant statue and Link was sitting on the edge of a ledge with his bow in hand, charging up a fire arrow. Right in front of the statue of the Spirit Sage were two torches and with two arrows, Link set them ablaze and the expected treasure box appeared on the designated pedestal.

"Dark, fetch."

Dark's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe Link had just said that to him! Link, who was always the prudish one concerned with stupid things like 'manners' and 'propriety' was now an irritable bitch bossing him around! And the worst part about it was, before he could even think about resisting, he was dropping to the ground and trotting over to fetch the map out of the treasure box like a dutiful little puppy.

Once he had the map in hand, he turned around to wave it over his head when he saw the flash of blue in his partner's hand and all the sudden he was falling out of the sky to land in the Water Temple. He'd barely hit the ground when he was wrenched from his prison and dropped in an awkward heap on the dusty stone floors of the Spirit Temple.

Groaning and coughing as dust from the impact flooded into his nose, the map was suddenly snatched from his hand and Link was walking up the stairs.

Much as Dark wanted to go running after Link and chew him out for being a total jerk, a sudden fit of sneezing prevented him from doing much of anything. Once his head was cleared, Link was gone and Dark was sprinting up the stairs five at a time after him. The next room had a large mirror set into a serpent statue with a shaft of light coming down an opening in the ceiling and a number of sun face emblems sat on the wall, dark and eyes shut

"Hey!" Link was in the middle of pushing the handle to turn the statue when Dark came storming into the room. The mirror turned, reflecting light to incinerate one of the suns on the wall and a box dropped out of the ceiling.

"I wanna talk to you. Just what the hell is your problem, huh?" The statue continued turning, its light ray incinerating another sun off the wall. "I mean, I know I broke your arm but I was looking out for you! You want to be crippled? Besides, I apologized. You don't have to be so bitchy, I mean I'm… Quit fucking ignoring me!" A third sun burst into flames and Link suddenly stopped and turned around to face Dark, his head tilted to the side as he listened for a faint whistle. A sudden large black hand dropped out of the sky, grabbed Dark and flew away with him. The entire ordeal was silent except at the end with Dark's startled voice screaming curses. Smirking, Link burnt away the rest of the sun faces until one lit up, opened its eyes and flashed a grin, opening the door. Once it was open he raided his boxes for their contents; five rupees and a bundle of arrows then settled back against the wall to wait for his partner.

Several minutes later, Dark stormed into the room, "That. Sucked. You did that on purpose didn't you, you asshole!" he yelled and immediately tackled Link, who was fighting off laughter.

"What if I did? What are you going to do about it?" he challenged tauntingly. Dark growled, narrowing his eyes to slits.

"I can always break your arm again," Dark threatened. Link snorted, looking at the boy straddling his waist. Just because his arms were pinned was no reason to get cocky. From behind, Link's legs swung up and wrapped around Dark's waist, pulling him back to the ground. From there the blond stood, dusted his clothes off and walked through the door, leaving a bewildered Dark laying on the floor. What on earth could be wrong with him?

Then next room was a nice convenient rectangle with the setup conveniently displayed. Many temple rooms had mechanisms to keep doors locked unless certain criteria were met. This one seemed fairly simple. To go right, step on a button though it was surrounded by rocks and clods of dirt. To go left was another light reflection trap. A shaft of sunlight poured in through a hole in the roof. Vaguely he wondered how he'd manage that during night time. Probably have to wait for the sun to come up. That would be such a irritation. However, it was early morning and still plenty of time before that became a problem.

There was also a different direction to go. As expected, standing on the grey button made the bars on the door to the right go up, however when he stepped off the button, it popped back up and the bars returned. Upon closer inspection, the rocks looked too smooth, too uniform to just be random. Perhaps there was a statue to push onto the button at one time, but no more. Time had done its work well, wearing and eroding the stone statue till naught was left but rubble.

That certainly could put a damper on the Hero's plans… fortunately… Link stepped over the button and leaned against the wall. Right on cue, Dark came dashing through to door and ran straight at Link to stand on the button. He opened his mouth to say something when Link held up one finger for silence. "Listen Dark. I need you to do something for me. There is something I need to take care of right away so you stay here and I will be back shortly."

Before Dark could react, Link turned and ran through the door. Of course the shorter swordsman tried to chase his partner only to be thwarted by the bars dropping to block his way. No matter how much he stomped and swore and kicked at the bars, all he could do was wait and worry…

-L-I-N-K-

The door slammed shut and barred , leaving the Hero to climb the short flight of winding stairs before him. The next door lead to a familiar room, one he was expecting. Since the Temple was very close on both sides, it made sense that a similar room would preface the Hand of the Colossus just as it had seven years ago. The same stone pillars and the same metal-clad warrior with the same axe. All day he'd had this strange feeling that time wasn't flowing properly in this temple and the way things stayed exactly the same over seven years was really messing with Link's head.

Slowly he approached the warrior's throne, taking a bomb. It was just like last time. The only difference was the direction of the room; a backwards L rather then a straight forward one. A sense of déjà vu flooded his mind, so strong and so clear that it left his head aching.

If it was like last time, the warrior would only rise once the first blow was delivered. Link sat down against the wall next to his bomb and took a few deep breaths to try and clear his head and focus on the task at hand.

Oddly, the one thing he didn't have to worry about was the bomb. He'd conveniently learned how to light them with nothing more then a miniscule pulse of magic to light the fuse. It was the only sure thing in that room. As he walked down the aisle, he could almost swear to seeing the slash mark where that axe had chopped through the pillar.

Just as before, he placed the bomb in the armor's lap and ran. The resulting explosion pulled the armor from its slumber and back into the world of the living as it stood, axe in hand to begin its stately march into battle.

This time would be different though. This time he had a reliable weapon to use and past experience to draw on. Link crouched down, waiting tensely on the balls of his feet with sword in hand.

_Wait for it…wait for it…_

With the weight of the axe, it could only be swung twice while maintaining control of it. As soon as he saw the axe lift Link jumped back out of range as the first swing went by. He stayed back until right after the backswing passed then jumped forward, slashing down with all his weight behind it. The sacred blade cut into the metal armor much smoother then his little Kokiri sword ever would. It was a fairly simple plan; dodge, then dart in and attack before the warrior could recover.

His plan worked well for a while but the Hero made the one mistake of getting overconfident. First swing then second swing and Link darted in to stab his blade through the armor and then suddenly he was staggering back, a bright splash of red spraying out of a deep gash in his chest. The inexorable clank of metallic footsteps began marching towards him again. Link tried to formulate a defense but his mind just wouldn't work right, though whether it was from blood loss or the temple messing with his head again, Link wasn't in a state to tell. It was all he could do to stagger against the wall and buy as much time as he could.

With his tired mind not working at its full capacity, the only things he could come up with were his basic items. First he lit and dropped a bomb on the ground, stumbling backwards and pulling a handful of arrows from his quiver. As soon as the bomb exploded and blew off the chunks of the Warriors armor, it started running, but Link was ready with an arrow already drawn to shoot into the unprotected abdomen of the creature before him. One by one he fired his arrows and each one that hit sent the warrior back a few steps only to take another arrow piercing into its stomach but arrows alone simply didn't have the power to kill and slowly the warrior was gaining ground. He lifted his axe, Link dropped his bow in favor of a sword and the two clashed…

-H-E-R-O-

Meanwhile, back outside Dark was standing against the wall grumbling to himself. "You stay here, huh? What the hell is wrong with him? Even I know, the first rule of any adventure, 'Do not split up.' Kiss of death." Sure enough, as soon as the words left his mouth, the bars lifted, door opened and out staggered Link, eyes wide and vacant as his blood fell to the parched stones like crimson raindrops.

Swearing under his breath, Dark pushed himself off the wall to catch Link before he could collapse. He didn't bother waiting for an explanation, instead jumping immediately to the correct conclusion.; His partner had been reckless and gotten in over his head. "You! What did I tell you! This is exactly what you bring me along to prevent so why am I sitting behind! How do you not know any better!" Dark cried in frustration. "Know what? Don't answer that. Just shut up and eat," he grumbled, dropping his last heart piece in Link's lap.

The blue crystal candy sparkled up and in spite of his injuries that made it painful to breathe, Link was laughing. A dry, heaving laugh, but still. "Dark…you never cease to amaze me," he whispered with a far off look in his eyes, biting into the Heart Piece. Almost immediately after finishing it, Link passed out to let his body regenerate.

After the blond was safely napping, Dark examined the item that he'd been holding onto. It was a shield, with the back polished mirror bright and rimmed in red velvet bearing the sign of the Gerudo. Much as he had nothing but disdain for the Gerudo tribe, a mirror could be fun toy!

While Link slept, Dark took the Mirror Shield across to the other side of the room to stand in the sun with it. The light reflected off the shield in a bright beam that made the Gerudo crescent moon. Fascinated, Dark tilted the shield around and watched the moon move along the wall at his command. When the light beam crossed the engraved sun emblem on the wall, the sun lit up, opening its eyes and flashing a grin as the door to the side opened. Now all that was left was for Link to wake up. Sadly though, Dark wasn't feeling in the most patient of moods.

Two hours later, Link awoke groaning from the aching feeling that still plagued the spot where the deep wound in his chest had healed. As soon as he tried to sit up he felt the familiar weight of laying on him, making him sigh. Honestly, Link couldn't even go off and get himself injured without Dark popping up to shamelessly use the blond as his personal pillow.

"G'morning sunshine" Dark's sudden voice startled Link. He'd just assumed from the weight and the long fall of ebony hair draped across his chest that Dark was sleeping. That was how he normally laid and for some reason once he lay down, the boy never had any trouble falling asleep almost instantaneously. It really was amazing and sometimes Link found himself more then a little envious of that particular skill but he didn't have time for that at the moment. He tried sitting up but a sudden weight knocked him back down. Trying to sit up again and shove Dark off of him also didn't work; Dark was already up and pinning the blond's shoulders to the ground.

"Dark, what are you doing?" Link asked, restraining himself with as much patience as he could muster. "We do not have time for playing around."

Link tried again to get up but Dark would not be moved. "On the contrary, we have plenty of time to play around. Take a look at your map." Frowning, Link pushed himself when Dark finally let him up to take out his map and stare down at the parchment.

"How?" was all he could whisper. According to the enchantment on the scrap of paper, almost all the rooms save for a small section were colored blue. That meant that almost the entire temple had already been visited.

Dark shrugged as thought it were the most natural thing in the world and tossed Link the gold and ruby key that would open the door to the boss. "I took care of it while you were sleeping. So, you're not behind schedule or anything like that. I think you can at least spare a minute to tell me why the Spirit Temple makes you want to bite my head off all of a sudden?"

Gritting his teeth, Link stood up and started walking towards where his map said was the last unexplored corner of the Temple. Of course it was probably much larger; all the Temples were but the rest would be on a different map. He heard Dark's footsteps behind him as he walked through the door, stopping at a high rock wall. There were spikes to climb but certain rows shifted periodically to the left and right into columns of spikes on either side. "I am tired of people pushing me around. I am tired of people trying to manipulate me." Link sighed and hopped up to sit on a short pillar that probably once held a statue of something to stare up at the shifting wall formation. "The Sages, giving me no choice but to help them; Sheik who never tires of giving me orders. Zelda, who got me stuck on this journey in the first place…" Dark opened his mouth to say something when Link's blue eyes caught his and narrowed. "And you. You are the worst of them all. You are the one always forcing yourself on me. You do not listen, none of you do. I don't mind doing my part to save the country but is it so much to ask to have someone value my opinion?"

Not waiting for an answer, Link fired his Hookshot, latching the claw onto one of the stationary rocks at the top of the wall, bypassing the entire climbing ordeal as it hauled him to the top.

Dark was left alone at the bottom and very put out with his shifting spike wall to climb for a second time that day. "For the love of….couldn't you make things just a little bit easy one me? Just once?" he growled, clambering up the wall. It took a frustratingly long time to do, especially since it had to be timed right or he'd end up skewered on the spikes to the sides. At least it was easier then the first time though. A giant spider had made itself comfortable exactly halfway up. In the end, Dark had to chuck his sword to kill the thing.

Once he was at the top he took off running down the sandstone halls of the Spirit Temple to where the last four unexplored rooms lay. All the monsters were gone, unable to rematerialize so quickly and all the traps had been disabled so it wasn't long before he was pushing open to door into the last little area. To the right, a pit with ladder s lead down to a floor area with more of those sun plates. Above it, a large mirror stuck to the ceiling, tilted so that if light hit it, it would refract down to the floor below. To the left, a set of thin iron bars blocked entrance to another of those rotating gold serpent mirrors. Link must be in the rooms ahead working with the light source.

If that was the case, Dark felt it fine to sit against the wall and listen to the sounds of Link struggling with turning the mirrors back in the little niche he was wandering around in. They sounded heavy… Served him right for spitting on the only help he'd ever get. Whatever was in there he could handle it on his own. Sure enough, a minute later a beam of light shot out of the caged in area to hit the mirror and shine down on the pit below.

When Link came out to look down at the product of his handiwork, he couldn't help but sigh. There lay Dark, casually sunning himself like a cat in the middle of Link's hard won shaft of light. The system of mirrors needed to make it work wasn't easy to move around after all. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"

Dark flashed a grin up at the blond who replied with a rough kick to the ribs before turning and lighting up the sun sitting on the wall. With a loud crack of breaking plaster, an entire section of their floor broke off to slowly descend like an elevator suspended by four chains to make a hanging platform high up in the center of the main room. Straight across, they could see the ancient and weathered face of the statue of the Spirit Sage, staring out from beneath her serpent hood. Actually she couldn't stare as her eyes had long since eroded away.

"Well now what?" Dark asked dully, not bothering to even stand up. Rolling his eyes, Link kicked his lazing partner again.

"How should I know?"

"Well, you're the Hero, obviously," Dark muttered sullenly and Link growled, running a hand through his hair.

"I swear sometimes you drive me crazy. Is it any wonder I need some space when you suffocate me like this?"

"Suffocate!" Dark yelled indignantly, pushing himself to his feet. "How dare you say something like that when some days I can barely get you to be polite, much less sociable. You never tell me what you're planning and I swear you leave me out as much as possible on purpose!"

"Plans! Please, you are far too hard-headed and stubborn to keep to any kind of plan. How am I supposed to make a plan with someone so restless that at the first sign of trouble he jumps off to take care of things on his own!"

By this time the two boys were in each other's faces, on the verge of screaming. The Mirror Shield, which was still strapped to Link's arm, shot its beam with a stray arm gesture from its wielder into the face of the statue, making the entire face of the statue crack and fall in chunks to the ground far below. Where the Sage's face had been was a metal grill over the gold locked door of the boss room. The two shared a look of slight confusion. Then, with a shrug, Link and Dark both pulled out their Hookshot and pulled themselves across.

Link rammed the key into the lock and watched it drop to the floor. After a seconds silence Dark put his hands on his hips and frowned. "I only go running off on my own cause I know its useless to try and have a casual conversation with you!"

The door opened and they both walked inside, paying no attention to the two ancient old women floating several feet off the ground on broomsticks or the Iron Knuckle; the metal warriors that had guarded the two important treasures of the dungeon.

"Well if you really feel that way then perhaps you should wait outside and leave this mess to the professional" Link suggested scathingly.

"Oh, no you don't, you're not getting rid of me that easy! I've already had enough of getting left behind. Weren't you paying attention in Hero's School? The first rule of any adventure, 'Do not split up!'"

Snorting, Link flipped his hair out of his face. "No. They did not cover that lesson in Solo Heroes. I never expected to have a sidekick so I did not bother," he countered with a sneer.

Throughout the entire exchange, the witches watched in confusion. "What do you think they're talking about, Koume?" asked the one with a blue gem on her wrinkled old skin. Her sister just shrugged.

"Hey! You two really are some outrageous fellows, walking so boldly right into our-"

"Quiet!" Link and Dark yelled in unison at the witch before returning to their bickering.

"Y'know that was really uncalled for! I work hard to help you out and what do I ever get out of it!" Dark almost sobbed.

"Only the opportunity to molest me every chance you get!" Link barked back.

"Are you still hung up on that? Goddess, just let it go already!"

Back on her broomstick, Koume crossed her arms, fuming angrily. How dare those kids treat a venerable sage like herself with such disrespect? Kids these days had no manners. "This is getting a little ridiculous. Oh loyal minion, defeat these intruders on our behalf! Come on, Kotake." With that, Koume and Kotake vanished in puffs of fire and ice respectively.

A screech of metal on metal as the Iron Knuckle stood grabbed the boy's attention and it was Dark who spoke first. "Hah! What's he gonna do, he doesn't have a…"

With just a snap of its gauntleted fingers, a large silver ax appeared in the warriors hands. "You just had to say it didn't you Dark?" Link muttered under his breath.

"Shut up, I'm still pissed off at you."

"Likewise."

And with that settled they focused on the battle. Of course Dark was the one to rush in, blade in hand. When the ax came straight down at him he leapt to the side and slashed. While it was occupied with him, Link ran in the other direction, whipping his blade through the armor from behind. With attacks coming in from the front and back, the heavy armored unit didn't know which way to turn or who to attack first. Dark stayed the target just because he was in front while Link slashed the leather cords holding the armor together.

Bellowing its rage, the armor tried another swing at the dark swordsman before him but Dark just smirked and jumped, tucking his legs close to land on top of the axe blade. "Sorry pal, Z-Targeting doesn't work on me," he whispered into the helmet before smashing the jewel on its forehead with the hilt of his sword. Almost immediately the armor collapsed, pieces scattering all over the floor to vanish in small bursts of flames leaving Nabooru laying dazed on the floor.

"Nngh… Where am I?" she asked groggily. No one had the chance to answer when a loud cackle echoed through the room and Koume and Kotake drifted back into the room.

"Well, looks like she's back to normal. She's just a little girl but she commands a lot of respect among the Gerudo," Koume mentioned, casually spinning a red ball of magic on her fingertip.

"Oh? You think we should have her work for the great Ganondorf for a little while longer? Alright, then, let's brainwash her again!" Kotake cackled gleefully, forming her own ball of magic. Though Nabooru was already darting towards the door with the speed of a startled rabbit, even she couldn't outrun the spell. The two orbs converged on her fleeing form, leaving behind nothing but a thin trail of dust.

Sighing, the Hero of Time shook his head and marched towards the door at the back of the room with Dark on his heels. Two short hallways led the duo into a large room with a raised dais acting as a kind of arena. That's how it had always been; battles conducted in a specific location. Apparently this one was to be a good twenty feet off the ground. The corners of the raised Dais were set with rough stones and not polished smooth so it would be possible to climb up.

Carved into the floor of the dais lay a very intricate design; all sharp jagged edges in a sixteen pointed star diagram that probably had some kind of mystical significance pertaining to the flows of energy that permeated the world and described the method of the world's creation that was beyond even Link to determine.

"Huh. Why do they have a compass on the floor?" Dark asked, completely oblivious to Link's incorrect but infinitely more interesting explanation. Now that he'd mentioned it, the design probably was a compass. There were even pillars rising to the same height as the arena at each of the four cardinal directions. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little put out from Dark so callously smashing his daydreams. An overactive imagination couldn't be all bad, could it?

"Look at those stupid kids. They came here of their own free will to offer themselves as sacrifices to the great Ganondorf!"

One of the witches-it was hard to tell which one since their voices were too close to distinguish-rang through the empty room as a pool of molten lava and liquid ice formed on the east and west islands where the sorceress sisters slowly rose out the their condensed elemental pools.

"With my fire, I will burn them to the bone!" Koume yelled, rising into the air as her silver bun burst into brilliance, instantly replaced with a wild mane of roaring flames.

"With my ice, I will freeze them to the soul!" came Kotake's counter as she too rose out of the liquid ice to have her hair burst into a torrent of chilling frost.

With their elemental hair active, they flew over to clasp hands before riding into battle. Koume flew off to the side and hefted her broom. A sizzling sound filled the room as she swung, shooting a jet of flames that spread out into a large puddle of lava covering almost half the platform as she flew away, cackling madly.

Link rolled out of the way of the initial beam but the dangerous area it left behind wasn't expected. The spreading pool of lava had Link scrambling franticly out of the way. On the other side, Dark was keeping an eye on the ice witch as she hovered lazily around in the opposite direction, keeping the boys back to back. Dark didn't jump away from the lava until it was nearly melting the soles of his boots. Taking he opportunity to strike while her opponent was off balance, Kotake fired a beam of ice, freezing the lava over and leaving the ground slippery and painful to touch.

For Link, this was the first boss fight where he'd had to worry about multiple enemies, not to mention that the sorceress sisters were crafty and intelligent as opposed to the brute monstrous strength of the previous bosses. Stepping back, Link hit the ice spreading out behind him and slipped, landing hard on his back with a pained grunt.

With an evil smile baring her small rotten teeth, Koume charged another beam of fire to sear the downed Hero before he could get up with her sister right behind, readying a spell of her own. Swearing under his breath, Dark jumped on top of Link, ripped the Mirror Shield out of his hand and held it up, hoping only to prevent his partner form getting roasted. Instead of igniting and covering the shield in thick globs of molten lava, the spell reflected right back as though it were no more then a ray of light. Kotake's shill yell of pain ripped the air as the fiery beam melted the forming ice spell right off the end of her broom stick and making the billowing frost from her hair shrink away from the intense heat.

"Fire, Ice… Ice, Fire… Dark, keep them occupied," Link murmured to his partner before getting up and running to the side and drawing out his bow. Dark just held position, grinning up at the angry witch who was glaring down at him. Not to be fooled by the same trick twice, the witches circled around to keep one of them behind. Spinning in circles it was all he could do to keep an eye on one of them. From behind he heard the sound of frigid wind blowing while Koume gathered her flames in front.

'_Shit. I'm dead.'_

Even if he ran there was no way he could avoid both spells and the next one after that would finish him off so he just held up his shield to at least repel one attack and maybe have a miracle. And a miracle he did receive in the form of an incendiary arrow bursting into flames upon hitting Kotake's broomstick. Her spell interrupted, the incoming jet of flames was deflected harmlessly into the wall.

From behind him, Link jumped off his pillar to run towards the different one and while Koume again tried charging a ray of fire. Kotake was about to start charging when she saw Link aiming at her sister. Cutting off her spell she raced over to knock the arrow out of the air right as Koume released her spell. Kotake's valiant defense of her sister put her within attacking distance and the reflected jet of fire collded with the hag again.

"Alright, Koume, let's get serious!" she gasped out, obviously in pain from having been struck three times.

"Oh, alright…"

The two drifted together in circles, coming closer and closer until finally merging in a burst of fire and ice, leaving behind a single woman. Through dressed in similar robes this new figure, Twinrova, looked centuries younger. The jewel on her forehead was a mix of red and blue while her hair was half a pillar of flames and half a column of ice and bearing a wand lit with the corresponding element in each hand.

Dark stared at the new being, mouth open. She was watching him; of course she knew he was staring at her breasts and only responded with a seductive wink. Steeling himself, Dark stuck out his tongue and turned to blow a kiss at Link. Twinrova was not impressed..

Levitating backwards she flicked her wand, sending a ball of flame at Dark. The fireball impacted his shield and vanished. No, not vanished, the once cool metal was now warm and humming in his grip. Tilting his arm to glance at the face, he saw that it was pulsing red with rivulets of molten lava running over the shield. Interesting that the shield could not only reflect but absorb magic as well.

Twinrova glared at Dark, raising her arm as if to strike him again but at the last instant her eyes betrayed her intentions, flicking over towards Link. Sprinting across the dais, Dark barely made it there in time to catch the fireball on his shield. Again the mirror bright metal soaked up the magic, humming even faster to the point it was almost vibrating on Dark's arm. Looking into it was like catching glimpses down the mouth of a volcano, fading in and out of existence.

"Damn these hags learn fast, don't they?" Dark whispered, using the edge of the shield to cover the movement of his mouth. Nodding, Link slipped off to the side, knocking another arrow as Dark moved around to stay behind the sorceress.

Not falling again for such petty tricks as a fire arrow, Twinrova simply bat Link's attacks aside and sent one final fireball with a flick of her wand. Facing Link, she wouldn't see Dark take the shield off his arm and she wouldn't see him hurl it to his partner like a frisbee. What she would see is the shield suddenly appear in her target's hands to absorb her last attack. Then she'd see the swirling vortex of lave as the shield reached its capacity to hold magic, releasing all the stored energy in a burning shockwave that knocked her out of the air. Dazed and confused there was little she could do to defend herself from the deep slashes Link was hacking into her from behind.

Returning to the air with blood dripping down her back from a number of cross-shaped cuts, Twinrova decided to change elements. Of course her simple ice bolt wouldn't catch the Hero off guard and when she shot a second bolt of ice at Dark, he was expecting that also, tossing the shield back to it's original user but the elemental sorceress wasn't finished yet. The mirror shield was flashing back and forth from normal metal to a raging blizzard so when she raised her fire wand, it was all Dark could do to run out of the way as waves of liquid magma spilled across the floor. It didn't end there either as she kept using fire, essentially making the charged energy in the shield useless. Then she turned towards Link

Without a full charge of energy, Dark couldn't do anything with the shield and with Twinrova watching, Link couldn't use arrows since she'd just knock them aside. Fortunately, good ideas come often to a Hero under pressure. He kept his Ice arrow trained on Twinrova and watched her smirk as though it were futile. "Hey, Dark!" he called, dropping his bow to fire the arrow at his partner. It slammed into the shield, transferring he ice energy over and putting the shield beyond its capacity. The sudden burst of super frigid air knocked Twinrova out of the sky. Link walked slowly towards her but made no attempt to draw his sword. The edge of an ebon blade was already protruding out her from behind. A despairing wail ripped the air as her body shrank into to little wisps of red and blue that became the separate forms of Koume and Kotake.

"Alright, this time we'll really get serious!" The Fire Witch shouted, ignorant of the shaft of light coming down from the heavens to envelope her.

"Uh, Koume? What's that thing over your head?"

Koume's rant started before it began as she looked up to see the halos floating above both of their heads. "I don't know, but you've got one too…"

The Sorceress Sisters sat in silence for a moment as the implications that they were dead sank in. "But I'm only 400 years old!" Koume cried with Kotake right on her heels.

"And I'm only 380!"

Pause. "We're twins Kotake, don't try to lie about your age!"

"You must have gone senile!"

"Is that any way to talk to your older sister!" Koume shouted indignantly.

"We're twins, how can you be older!"

"Keyaaaah!"

"Senile!"

"Heartless!"

"Ungratefull!"

Off to the side, Link and Dark watched the exchange in silence before Dark leaned over to whisper, "Man, they don't get along very well do they?" and Link shook his head in agreement.

"Quiet!" the sorceresses shouted before returning to their arguing, not even noticing as they drifted into the sky to vanish.

The battle over, Link attacked the Heart Container they'd left behind, devouring the sour candy before stepping into the blue ring of light that would bring them back outside. "Hmph. And he has the nerve to say I'm a messy eater," Dark scoffed once Link was safely out of earshot, then he too stepped into the light and a moment later was standing outside in the harsh sunlight that had him wincing after having been inside so long. Link would be in there for a while doing whatever it was he did with the Sages, which made it unfortunate that all the Sages Dark knew of were female. But no, he wouldn't think about that. He wouldn't think about how while he waited out obliviously outside anything could be going on. For all he knew, Link could be fucking that Gerudo chick's brains out.

"Damn it Dark, cut it out!" he screamed at himself, pounding a fist against the side of the Temple. A shadow passed overhead and a great brown owl flew down to land in front of him…

Back in the Chamber of Sages, despite Dark's worries, Link and Nabooru were have a simple conversation and were fully clothed to boot. "Well…I apologize for taking the Gauntlets," Link began hesitantly when Nabooru cut him off with a laugh.

"Woman's intuition says you've got something else on your mind. Want to talk about it?"

"It's Dark," he groaned, sitting down and resting his head in his hands as though the very mention of the boy's name made him stressed. "I don't know what to do about him. He randomly joins me out of nowhere after trying to kill me and later tells me he loves me! I admit I enjoy having him around but I just don't know how I feel or even if I can afford to feel anything. I have a duty to attend to…I could end up hurting him. I could end up dead. Worse, he could end up dead and it would be my fault! It probably sounds terrible but as much as having people die is hard to deal with, it hasn't ever been unbearable. But, I do not think I could stand losing Dark and I hate having that be the case. Where was my decision in all this? No one ever asks what I think or what I feel…people are so selfish. Then Sheik tells me that Dark is evil and will betray me and…I don't know what to think anymore."

Link sighed, his tirade over as he stared at Nabooru, asking for some kind of guidance. Already he felt better for just getting everything off his chest and for some reason talking to her just felt like the right thing to do, even for an introverted person like Link.

Naboorusat down to get on his level and stared for a minute into the depths of those beautiful blue eyes; into his very soul itself. "Well, whoever this Sheik person is, they don't know what they're talking about." That certainly knocked Link off guard. Sheik was the pillar of knowledge that had guided the Hero through his entire adult quest. Then here came Nabooru, brushing it off as inconsequential. "Next, ignoring your feelings in order to be able to do your mission? Forget it."

"But I can't afford to-" Link began when she held up a hand, silencing him.

"You asked for my advice and I'm giving it. Don't interrupt me again." She waited a moment to make sure he wouldn't start talking again before continuing her explanation. "Now, Ganondorf was taught, as all Gerudo are, that when you have a goal to kill your feelings and do only what is necessary to achieve that goal. Look where that got him. If nothing else, you want to stay away from doing things his way. Your emotions are what guide you to make the correct decisions. But, I would also take the advice of your little friend into consideration. He is far more important then you might think." In spite of her serious words, the Gerudo Sage's demeanor was anything but. With one leg crossed casually over the other and playing with her long red ponytail, she certainly didn't look all that serious.

"How…do I know that you are correct?" It probably would get him in trouble to question his new advisor but old habits of double checking die hard.

"I am the Sage of Spirit. This is what I do. Like it or not, the sad fact is that you, my handsome little hero, are incomplete. There's a part of your being that is missing and he is that one that has it. Now, Dark doesn't really need you. He could run off and become a…a mercenary or something and live his incomplete life just fine." Link grit his teeth at that insinuation but Nabooru paid it no mind, flipping the Spirit Medallion in the air like a coin; the physical representation of her power that she would give him…eventually. "In your case however, nothing less that a complete Hero can defeat the Dark Lord Ganondorf. Anything less than that is destined to fail. This means that you need him a lot more then he needs you."

Link's jaw dropped open, speechless. He needed Dark? That made sense…but the way she said it, he couldn't help but think… "Uhm, So, by needing him, I simply need to have him around?" Link asked, trying very hard to restrain his natural reaction at his question while cursing his tendency to blush.

"No! You need his influence. Face it, you are a cold person. You need a little heat to keep you balanced. Without that heat, that balance, you'll be brittle and the pressure of this journey will break you. The Hero will fail."

Coursing blood further suffused his cheeks. She still hadn't answered his question! Damned metaphors making things confusing. Though he had no real experience with it, he had the vague inkling that if he ever gave in to Dark's advances, things would get _very hot. _How was he supposed to know what she mean?

"D…does that…I mean, are you….suggesting that I need…a p-physical relationship to succeed?"

By now he was blushing so bad he could feel the sweat beading on his forehead from it. And he was stuttering! Why in Farore's name couldn't he talk straight? It only made the situation all the more embarrassing when Nabooru burst out laughing.

"No! No no no no no. Where on earth did you get that idea?"

Huffing, Link crossed his arms and looked away. He couldn't believe this, the Sage was laughing at him! It was just so utterly embarrassing. "He…has a tendency to flirt with me on a regular basis."

Nabooru howled, falling back against the platform and kicking her heels against the ground. "Oh! Oh, Nayru help me, that's the funniest damn thing I've ever heard! Oh what I wouldn't give to see that!" Sighing, she composed herself, wiping an errant tear from her eye. "No, don't worry Link, you need his personality to balance yours out. Like Fire and Ice. You keep him cool and under control; he keeps you warm enough to feel for yourself. Though if you did want to bed him, that's a mighty fine catch," she teased when suddenly Rauru, the Sage of Light appeared on his dais two to the left of Nabooru.

"I hope you two are done socializing because the Dark Lord has mobilized his entire army and is marching on the Temples. All of them."

Immediately, Link and Nabooru were up and alert. "I can only be in one of them to help out. Dark and I can split up if need be." Link offered and the old Light Sage nodded.

"That may be needed. We now have all the temples in possession but not under our control."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean?" Link had wondered idly what all was involved in being a Sage and Impa had hinted at some of it, but Nabooru answered.

"The Temples aren't just buildings people decided to put here. They're access points to massive amounts of energy. There are places where the energy is thick and it flows from there to the center room. As Sages, not only are we having to process all the information and abilities of the previous Sages suddenly flowing into our minds, we also have our entire temple to clean out and its power to master."

Rauru continued. "Yes. When Ganondorf came to power he killed off the previous Sages and left his own creatures to gain mastery over the Temples. If any of them had succeeded in gaining mastery over all the power in their temple, you would not have been able to defeat them. Ganondorf was able to kill the Sages since he has a great deal more experience in using his part of the Triforce. As of now, I am the only one of the Six Sages to hold full mastery over my Temple. Right now, the bulk of the dark armies marches towards the Forest Temple to prevent its Sage from taming her temple. Once she does, only the Dark Lord himself will pose a threat."

The rest of that statement was clear. "Until then, Saria is in danger."


	16. Heart of Darkness

**_AN: So, this one is done. Again, i am taking the story into my own hands in a very direct manner and i look forward to all your comments. I know you're all dying to see what happens so don't worry. I haven't started 17 yet, but 18 and 19 are both already done, as i would work on them when i got bored or tired of this one. So, 17 is the only one left untouched and it will be up soon. I am very anxious to get to the end of this story but 17 will be a compilation of most of your earlier requests so i need a little time to get that planned out. It will probably be fairly long but i don't see it taking longer then 5 days. So, stay tuned, the end of our Hero's journey is coming up fast!_**

Heart of Darkness

Outside the Spirit Temple, Link found Dark sitting on the front steps with Kaepora Gaebora the owl flying away. What they had talked about, Link had no idea. From what he'd heard from a Gossip Stone though, the old owl was actually one of the ancient Sages. What exactly he was the Sage H_of_, Link also had no idea, nor did he want to think about it since he had far more pressing issues to attend to. Dark's eyes lit up when he saw his partner drop down in front of him.

"Oh hey, Link!"

"Not now Dark, we've got trouble!" Dark looked sad for about half a second before he understood what was going on. A quick explanation and they were off. Actually, Link was off and Dark was sitting in his Medallion prison. As much as he hated being locked away, it allowed Link to use warping songs while still keeping his partner with him. A quick tune on his Ocarina. The Minuet of Forest normally made him feel the familiar ease of the forest but this time even materializing amidst the ancient and noble trees of his childhood, Link felt only concern.

Pausing only to take out the Hookshot, a tool that would be needed to enter the Forest Temple since the stairs had long since crumbled away, he took the opportunity to also release his comrade in arms, who dropped to the grassy carpet with a dull thud. Dark saw the instrument in Link's hand and got his own out, rubbing his sore backside with the other.

As the hooks shot out of their holders to grab onto an overhanging tree branch and reel their hind parts in, along with the extra baggage that was Link and Dark, the black swordsman found himself thinking that it wasn't too high to get from the ground to the platform before the Temple entrance. Personally, he felt it would be much more fun to have his green clothed counterpart stand on his shoulders and get up that way, but sadly they hadn't the luxury of time.

Link marched into the Temple with sword drawn, fully expecting a pair of metallic grey wolves to rise out of the ground to greet him and was initially puzzled when they didn't appear. That was when he started to run. Even though it was a sacred place, for some reason the Forest Temple had a front door similar to how a normal house would have. Sprinting through the front door, the entrance hall was also devoid of the guarding spider he remembered, though the climate was just as humid and rapidly getting muggy. This would not be a pleasant stay.

The first enemies waited out in the central room of the temple. A four way intersection of halls centered on this room and the elevator in the middle surrounded by four torches that would descend to the focal point of the whole buildings; the Boss' Chambers. That was where he expected to find Saria had she not been standing at the other end of the room, standing at the top of a staircase with a bow in hand and firing arrows down into the horde of monsters that was advancing towards her. The young Kokiri girl was steadily losing ground and immediately the rescuing cavalry was running down the stairs, swords brandished against the troupe of Stalfos stalking malevolently towards her.

The entirety of the group was made up of animated skeletons wearing basic armor; helmets, boots, shredded pants and shields. However, the shields didn't help so much when the first several warriors were slashed through the spine, separating their upper and lower bodies. Once the rest of them realized that they were being flanked, they turned to fight.

Many of the Stalfos ended up trapped, with Saria on one end, Link and Dark on the other with railings pinning them in from the sides, but still they fought viciously. One actually turned to leap through the air over his comrades, down the stairs with its wickedly curved blade held high overhead to chop down with all its might against the raven-haired foe. With just a quick spin of his sword, the Stalfos' blade as well as the arm that held it went flying off into the distance. After that, the battle went quickly and soon it was just piles of bones littering the stairs, leaving Dark bored and Link with cremation duty. If Stalfos weren't incinerated, they tended to piece themselves back together. Not to mention how leaving such a mess in the middle of a staircase could hurt the unwary passerby.

"Thank you, Link. I knew you'd come to save me," Saria approached Link, shy and demure and flirtatious yet her eyes sparkled with excitement. This was the first time Dark had really seen "feminine charm" and it left him with the strangest urge to vomit. How could she possibly think that Link would be interested in her? For one thing, she was still a little girl and therefore only half his height. Not to mention that the Forest Sage, in some bizarre twist had bright green hair. He was the type of person who didn't really get into "out of the ordinary things," if it could be avoided. Maybe that's why he wouldn't take his clothes off; it socially wasn't done. In that case, having green hair also socially wasn't done so they should all be fine. Whether or not that was true, it made Dark feel better.

Saria led them to the elevator in the middle of the room that rose out of the floor at her command. Crowded thought it was, the technology fascinated Dark who marveled at the cool smooth stone sliding over his palms on its own accord. The elevator stopped a moment later to let the group off on a plush red carpet that lead down a solemn stone hallway to a large door. The last time Link had been down here, that door had been chained and sealed with a large gold padlock.

Scurrying down the hallway, the giant door slid silently into the ceiling as soon as Saria approached and they followed a winding staircase to the heart of the Temple. A deep ridge where the door was located spiraled up to a dais which rose up good height above the ground. Unlike the dais in the Spirit Temple, this one had only enough clearance between the wall and door for a single person to walk, though the top of the dais did have a similar multipoint star set into the ground. Eight points, each facing a painting. Under the rule of Phantom Ganon, each of them had been a depiction of a dark road at night leading up to a haunted castle; down that road would ride the phantom, he and his black horse physically coming out of the painting to travel to the adjacent painting and ride back up the road.

Two of the eight paintings remained that same scene of the night castle, however under the much more fashion-conscious Saria, the interior decoration was being changed out. The remaining six walls instead of paintings had gilded mirrors of the exact same size in their spots.

"Now then…I heard that Rauru told you to come and give some backup." Saria smiled almost sadly and shook her head. "I wish there was time to catch up but there isn't. Maybe after we get this little situation taken care of. So, here's how things stand. Five of the main energy conduits have been cleaned. The two that are left I haven't been able to get to; those thugs keep on attacking me."

"Is there something we can do? We could escort you where you need to go and protect you while you work," Link suggested.

"No, I can work from here. Link, since you have the Master Sword, I need you to go to the conduits. All you have to do is kill all the monsters there. Once there isn't anything counteracting my power, I'll be able to clear the rest of these.

Nodding, Link headed back towards the door. "Alright. I'll just give the Temple another run through and kill any monsters I see. Dark, stay here. I do not feel comfortable leaving Saria alone."

"You don't have to do the whole temple. The conduits will be marked on your map," she interjected.

Much as he wanted to argue, Dark knew that Link wasn't specifically out to get him this time and was simply being practical so he sighed and nodded and pulled out his blade to combat the imaginary forces that he expected to be fighting. Namely, he didn't expect to be doing anything. Once again, he was demoted to the rank of guard dog.

Slightly disgusted with himself, Dark sat down by the stairs as soon as Link was gone. Saria knelt in the middle of the star in the center of the room facing one of the three dark paintings. Once she closed her eyes, the room grew dark and heavy with foreboding, the painting suddenly covering over in a thick complex web of tangled black vines; the symbolic representation of the energy conduit. One by one the Forest Sage untangled the mass on knots that obstructed the flow of magic through her domain.

Assumption number one; being a Sage is easy. Dark had been quite mistaken. Saria looked like she was concentrating hard and the vines moved so slowly. It certainly didn't look easy.

Assumption number two; he wouldn't get to do anything. Also incorrect. Outside Dark heard the sound of the elevator hitting the ground and he leapt to his feet to run out the door. Sure enough, another group of Stalfos was marching their way to assault the Sage and reclaim the temple. Needless to say, they weren't happy to see an interloper.

In fact, the skeletons all seemed to have the same idea for they all drew their weapons at the same time. Dark was way ahead of them. While it wasn't easy being attacked by eight undead skeleton warriors at once, they still didn't hold a candle to the skill with which the Gerudo fought and Dark had bested more of them.

True, it was Link's weapons only that could destroy the remains of a monster; the Master Sword in particular, but just because Dark didn't have any sacred powers didn't mean he wasn't a threat. On the contrary, his incredible agility and strength made just as efficient a match for the creatures of Ganondorf as Link, if in a much more violent manner. Fluid and graceful, Dark slashed through the group, snapping off ribs left and right, yet each swing taken back would miss by but a scant inch. For a living breathing Gerudo Warrior, fighting Dark was the most frustrating thing ever; all their training brought to nothing by one insolent kid.

Stalfos however, equipped with only enough basic thinking capacity required to effectively use a sword and shield had no such worries. One of the smarter Stalfos decided to bypass Dark altogether and head right for the door. "Get back here, fucker!" Dark yelled, relishing in the ability to swear as loud as he wanted. He threw his sword. The blade spun through the air, slicing through as it spun and collapsing the creature in a pile of bones just a few feet from the door.

Even unarmed, Dark was far from defenseless. The next Stalfos to attack he darted in, grabbed its wrist and brought the creature's arm down over his knee. The brittle bone snapped like a dead tree branch and its hand fell to the floor, leaving just the sword in Dark's grasp. From then, that was his mode of operation; chop their hands off so their swords were useless. With no weapons; the monsters were easy pickings. After their sword arms were removed, he focused on slashing through the spinal column and then, he'd set his heavy leather boot on his fallen enemies skull and crush it mercilessly beneath his heel.

Link was having a similar time as he strolled again through the halls of the Forest Temple. It was nostalgic in an irritating sort of way; he hadn't liked it the first time he'd visited. It was horribly humid and he was already sweating. Not to mention how the hordes of biting flies that plagued the larger rooms loved to feast upon his exposed flesh. By tomorrow morning he'd have itchy welts all over the place. At least this time he knew where the poison ivy was and how to avoid it.

Still, in spite of its many abrasive qualities, looking at the ancient stone arches that had collapsed from the wear of time and the high towering walls with thick ropes of ivy climbing up them, it was easy to imagine the place as having been majestic back when it was first built all those years ago. This place was a testament to the endurance of life; its vitality, its vigor. Nowhere was this so abundantly clear as in the forest.

That was why he didn't mind so much, until he came across a group of Stalfos sitting in a circle around a flickering black flame, chanting in some harsh guttural language. Link took that as a great insult to his work. He'd put in a great deal of time and effort to come in and make these Temples clean again. He certainly wasn't about to sit back as a band of nobodies came in to defile it again. The quiet whisper of steel leaving its sheath was the only indication before Link stuck, jumping through the air to cleave one of his opponents in half before the rest could do anything to stop him.

From there the battle was short and brutal, his sacred blade eating away at the skeletal bodies. Each cut corroded bone until there was one thing left to do. Reversing his blade, Link stabbed it down into the heart of the unholy flames brought by the Stalfos and watched it shriek and spasm like a living creature. Faced with its antithesis, his sword glowed white hot to sear away all impurities it touched and the black fire snuffed out like a candle in the wind.

Right as that was happening, Dark was walking back up the stairs to check on Saria. She was still sitting meditatively inside her circle, eyes closed as the vines on the wall writhed like a pit of snakes. The bottom half had been entirely cleared of the vines and showed mirrored glass while the top half showed a castle at night. They were moving much quicker then when Dark left, and once one of the vines was fully removed from the others it fell to the ground in a cloud of ashes along with a section of painting. It was almost as though the mirrors had simply been covered over and Saria was only cleaning them off.

Soon, another vine fell charred to the ground, then another; they were falling off consecutively until the entire mirror was free. The Forest Sage opened her eyes, pale and sweating from the ordeal as she got unsteadily to her feet and walked towards the stairs. "Woah, hey, are you alright? Should you…really be up?" Dark asked, worried less about Saria and more about what Link would do to him if he allowed Saria to overexert herself.

"I'm…fine. I just need to take a break. That took a lot out of me," she assured him and from the satisfied smile on her face, he believed it. Together they walked down the stairs but only into the preceding room. "My, you sure are thorough aren't you?" Saria commented, uneasily eying the shattered pieces of broken bodies that littered her halls.

"Yeah, they don't disappear like they do for Link but I can't have 'em following me around so I make sure they can't do any harm," he replied with a shrug and flopped down on the ground while Saria eyed him pensively.

"It's strange…you and Link look so much alike but the way you two act couldn't be more different."

Dark responded with a chuckle. "Yeah. He thinks I'm irresponsible and I think he's a prude. We have our ups and downs but I love him anyways." Dark made his answer sound casual but he was watching her face for any signs of what she could be thinking. He wanted some idea of what was running through this girls mind. A grimace he expected and got as he leaned her head back against the wall.

"Yes I know. Don't look at me like that, it doesn't take a Sage to see the way you look at him," Saria teased at his look of complete surprise. "No, I lied. Actually I am…pretty clueless when it comes to things like that. Back…when we were kids, I always thought I would be the one to break Link out of his shell. I wanted to be the girl for him. I guess, I have my own destiny so that isn't possible. Besides, Nabooru explained what was going on to me and I understand. If I can't have him, I suppose you have my approval. Take care of him."

Dark felt a grin spreading a cross his face in spite of himself. Nabooru was not only on his side, but she was knocking the competition out of the running! "I knew I liked her!" Sighing contently, Dark made a mental note to thank the Spirit Sage the next time he saw her. Saria giggled at his antics.

Sadly though, the little break wasn't to last. The pile of bones by the door formed back into warriors and stood up. Even the bones he'd broken formed back together to make an entire brigade of Stalfos. Instantly, Dark was on his feet with blade in hand to defend his charge but the Stalfos didn't go after them. Instead, they turned and ran through the door. Dark took off after them with Saria on his heels.

Back in the Boss Chambers, the Stalfos all sat in a circle in the middle of the star diagram. A vortex of dark energy leading to the void between dimensions. Dark just made it to the top of the stares as the decomposing form of Phantom Ganon rose from his imprisonment. The ice blue flames from his initial defeat at the Hero of Time's hands still consumed his body even now. At this rate, he would soon be completely destroyed. Roaring his challenge, the phantom jumped into the painting as the vines of magic became visible, coiling around the former boss as he entered the one portal he still maintained control over. From there, all the Stalfos stood and jumped into the painting, bursting into flames and vanishing as soon as they touched it.

"Oh no! He's sacrificing the monsters and feeding on their energy to extend his life long enough to retake control!" Saria pushed past Dark to run towards the center of the room and sit in the middle, hands clasped as though she were praying. Up in the painting, Phanton Ganon also sat, chanting in the same harsh dialect of the Stalfos.

Sighing, frustrated, Dark bit his lip and paced back and forth. This was a contest of wills; a battle to see who had the stronger strength of mind. Having survived so long in the void, that Phantom certainly had an impressive desire to live but it left Dark with nothing to do but sit back and cheerlead. That was when the Stalfos started showing up and that was enough of a threat to make Dark hold his blade in both hands and fight seriously for once. If it was just him, he'd be fine, but for protecting someone else he would not take any chances.

Dark stood in front of Saria as she meditated, blade held ready as the first Stalfos ran right past to jump into the painting; another sacrifice of life to Phantom Ganon to sustain the fading ghost for a little while longer. That more then pissed off the swordsman. Who did they think they were to just ignore him like that? So, to take out some frustration he run up and kicked the next incoming Stalfos down the stairs. For a warrior of Dark's caliber, it wouldn't be too hard to hold off the entire pack at the stairs. He could see them flooding in down on the ground floor. "For Din's sake, where are they coming from!"

It seemed a good system; after smashes a few skeletons, kick one down the narrow stairs to take all his buddies with him. It cleared the stairway and gave Dark a few seconds respite. He didn't need to kill them all; just hold out long enough for Saria to finish her little Sage battle. Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder to hold the stairs. The undead legion almost pushed through had Dark not grabbed the two side poles and thrown himself feet first down the stairs. His grip on the rail prevented him from going down all the way and keep his balance. It did break the momentum of the skeletal wave that threatened to crash down on him so this time Dark too the opportunity to counter attack.

Taking the offense, Dark flowed down the stairs in a deadly dance of blades, hacking apart enemies left and right. Switching back to just using his sword with one hand, Dark grabbed one of the enemies to use in his left to make his attacking more efficient. With every swing of his arm he felt bone coming off, heard the snaps as they broke apart.

A sudden movement caught his eye as one of the vines dropped to the ground and where it hit the ground he noticed some of the Stalfos running in the opposite direction from the stairs. Running back up, Dark hit the top of the stairs in time to throw the secondary blade he'd picked up at a Stalfos who was running toward the painting. With the force he threw it, the spinning blade decapitated the undead warrior and Dark ran up to kick the rest over the side. Then he saw it; Stalfos ringing the raised dais and climbing on each other's shoulders to reach to edge of the platform. "Shit, they're coming up the sides!"

Growling, he ran to the other edge of the dais to kick another that was just climbing to the top before running back to hold position on the stairs again. "Damn it…I can't hold out forever…" Rampaging his way back down the stairs, Dark gathered a small collection to bring back up to the top of the stairs. He couldn't hold the stairs and defend the entire perimeter but projectile weapons were better then nothing. Whenever a Stalfos would climb over the edge he'd chuck the left hand blade he was using and just grab a new one.

The problem was that more and more were appearing over the sides and he simply didn't have enough weapons to throw to take them all out. He could see how Saria was doing by glancing up at the painting. Cut off from his external life source, Phantom Ganon was rotting away and still putting up one hell of a fight. Still, one by one the vines were falling and his territory was shrinking. Phantom Ganon was trying to hold onto his final mirror and Link was trying to keep the Stalfos army at bay; both on opposite sides and somehow both fighting losing battles.

That was until an explosion sounded from outside. Link, Hero of Time and secret pyromaniac extraordinaire. "Alright, the cavalry is here. I can't mess up now," Dark muttered, slinging himself down the stairs again to knock everyone off balance before running up to hold the top. One Stalfos was already up there and advancing with a drawn weapon at Saria's undefended back.

Dark ran in and stabbed, barely intercepting the enemy just a scant inch above Saria's head. From there, his blade slide down to slice through a knee as more enemies were coming up the sides. Snarling, he grabbed the hilt of its blade and threw, ripping off skeletal fingers in the process. More were coming up. Thinking fast, he picked up the severed leg and threw that before ripping the creature's head off its shoulders to use as a weapon.

The skull smashed against another skull but it bought the boy enough time to get over there and cut the enemies down properly. On the edge, he saw a flash of green down below going in the other direction. So Link was down below tearing down the Stalfos ladders; nothing more then a bunch of skeletons standing atop the other's shoulders until one could reach the top. With those gone, all Dark had to worry about was the stairs and soon enough those were clean. All around, bones lay scattered in piles, the skulls leering up tauntingly at those who had defeated them.

Without any way to revitalize himself, Phantom Ganon lost his grip, tumbling out of the painting along with the rest of his vines, leaving the final mirror whole and undefiled. For all those weeks, the phantom had been clinging to life in spite of the holy fires consuming his very being. With his last hope of life lost, the ghost looked like a frail old man; a mere shadow of his former self. In this case, the shadow of a shadow. It was Ganondorf's face but horribly withered ,with holes in his flesh as though he'd been buried for some insect to come and devour.

Saria stood, stepping out of the middle of the circle and sudden wind swept the room, making a dust storm of ground bone fragments to fly around and sucked down a vortex in the center of the room. Phantom Ganon clawed at the floor, desperate to hold onto existence the inexorable pull of the seal was too much for his exhausted strength and he, along with all his army succumbed to its power.

When the dust settled, there was no trace at all that a battle had ever taken place. Only when all the possible threats were eliminated did Saria allow her knees to buckle, leaving her faint and panting. "Thank you… for all your help… but we're not out of the woods yet." A tired smile graced the Kokiri girl's features. "No pun intended. Now go on, I'll be fine now. Everyone else needs your help."

"Alright. Come on, Dark. Next we will go to the Fire Temple to help Darunia."

Dark grimaced, wanting nothing more then to stay away from any place hot if at all possible. An active volcano crater was the last place in Hyrule he'd want to be. "Erm…actually, could you drop me at the Water Temple? We gotta defend them all so we need to split up," he added earnestly in response to Link's questioning look. He understood. After all, he'd seen how utterly miserable Dark was in high temperatures and it wasn't anything the boy could help. He might as well be accommodating.

-F-I-R-E

Link materialized in the Death Mountain crater and immediately stripped off his tunic in favor of the heat-resistant Goron Tunic. It didn't negate the heat; only make it non-fatal. The super heated air would still burn his lungs and his sweat would still sting the many insect bites that now graced his body from the escapade in the Forest Temple.

Actually getting into the Fire Temple required a long climb down an iron ladder that descended deeper into the depths of the volcano. Had he not had a thick pair of leather gloves for just such occasions, Link's hands would certainly be burned by the hot metal.

Unlike the Forest Temple, this deep mountain sanctuary was very harsh and very straightforward about it. While both were old buildings, the Fire Temple lacked any sort of grandeur that existed in its wooded counterpart, it still exuded a feel of the stirring of ancient secrets in a place that had existed since a primeval age. At the top of a low flight of central stairs, three statues with perpetually burning flames in their mouths hinted at darker rituals that may once have been practiced there.

One nice thing about this temple was convenience. Though it held several shortcuts to prevent excess walking, the main convenience today was that Darunia's chambers were a very shot walk distance away. All he had to do was climb the stairs, open the door on the left and there was the entrance to the room he sought sitting right in front of him. It was just a short jump onto a pillar and then to the door. Of course, getting there had been a great deal more work since it involved collapsing the ceiling to make said pillar, but now he was definitely appreciating the fruits of his own labor.

Inside the chamber he found Darunia. Previously the chief of the Goron tribe, he was a large, heavily muscled Goron who even bore spikes growing out of his back. The spikes grew on only the strongest of Gorons, or so Link had heard. The Fire Sage sat cross legged with his knuckles pressed together out in the center of the room. This one was very simply an earthen island in the middle of a roiling sea of magma. A circular swath of earth rose about ten feet out of the lava and across the top were eight round holes where more magma shown through from the inside of the earthen platform.

"Ah! Brother! It is nice to see you again, but don't you think you would be better placed elsewhere?" the Goron Leader greeted him in a rough gravelly voice. "Did you think Big Brother could not handle himself?"

Link tilted his head to the side as he leapt across the short stretch of lava to his sworn brother. "Huh? I was only thinking that since you would be the second closest to completing your temple that you would be-"

"Bah! You were right to help that little girl. Saria is a sweet child but I cannot think she would be able to defend herself…but twice now misfortune has visited the Gorons and twice you have been the one to save us from it. This time, Darunia will be the one to save his people! I would not be able to live with the shame if I had you do this. Go now, and do what you must do. But remember to come back and visit!" Laughing heartily the Fire Sage walked to the edge of his island as the doors opened and Stalofos started flooding into the room, speckled with the occasional lizalfos.

The intruders outnumbered Darunia by a great deal but the Goron warrior stood his ground, even when the first one jumped over to his island. All it took was a casual back handed slap to send bones flying off into the lava. Apparently cleaning up wouldn't be an issue here. "Brother! Do you seek to insult my strength? I told you, the offer is appreciated but I find it slightly insulting that you think I need protecting more then a human girl," he scoffed playfully and with Link had to agree. Reluctantly, he played a melody to warp him out to the next location. The last thing he saw before vanishing was Darunia bellowing his challenge to the 'little cockroaches' to try and best him in battle.

-S-P-I-R-I-T-

Once again in far too short a time period Link arrived in the desert. True, he'd just come from an active volcano but the types of heat couldn't be more different. The fiery volcano heat was just hot. It burned everything and made life difficult on a very physical level. The dry scorching heat of the desert didn't have the same intensity but something about it was just exhausting, as though the sun itself was sapping the energy of whoever wandered beneath its gaze.

Across a short stretch of sand, Nabooru sat most conveniently out on the front steps of the Spirit Temple, talking to none other then Kaepora Gaebora, but when he saw Link, he flew away before the blond could get close.

"Hey there handsome! You here to play body guard for the poor defenseless woman?" Nabooru asked teasingly as Link approached and he nodded slowly, not realizing he was being made fun of. "Well be careful sunshine, underestimate me and I'll knock you out in ten seconds flat. Come on in out of the heat!" Nabooru called over her shoulder as she strode inside with a bewildered Link behind.

Off to the right sat a pile of weapons of all shapes and sizes. Link had never seen most of them but Nabooru seemed to know what they all do. "Impressive isn't it? I found these when I was cleaning out the back room. I need to be properly armed if I'm gonna send you packing when our friends arrive."

The slight emphasis on 'friends' along with her pointed look out the front door said that she was referring to the columns of Stalfos marching across the sands. Regardless, she didn't seem all that worried, instead going to her weapon pile to sheathe a pair of gold hilted scimitars to her back. Two short wooden handles connected by a length of chain hooked onto a spike at the back of her belt, a collapsible wooden staff, a chained sickle and some fingerless gloves with spiked brass knuckles. "Listen, Nabooru, I know you think that you can handle yourself but -" Link's sentence cut off abruptly as a four-pointed metal star went whizzing by his head to embed itself with a _thunk_ in the far wall.

"I'll have you know that we Gerudo are given only the very best training and I am the best of the best." Much as he liked her, Nabooru's smug grin was just irritating.

"Yeah? Well Dark beat Gerudo in battle. All of them. At the same time." Link's casual claim had Nabooru raise her eyebrows as she went to retrieve her shuriken from the wall.

"Really? I'll have to fight him someday. In the meantime, you really do need to leave. You're a very charming boy but a Gerudo would still rather die before accepting help from a man. It's nothing personal hun." As one last touch, Nabooru raised her veil, leaving only her eyes uncovered. "Now I am ready for battle. Oh wait, one more thing…"

With a snap of her fingers one of the large axes used by the Iron Knuckles appeared in her hand. "There. Perfect. Now get outta here. Impa needs you more then I do. Just thing about what she has to deal with." Link really couldn't argue with that. Off in the hellish Shadow Temple, a Stalfos would be the least of anyone's worries.

After Link disappeared, Nabooru set the ax off to the side. Much as she could wield it, using scimitars like she'd been trained just felt right. "Welcome boys. Don't take me lightly."

-W-A-T-E-R-

Dark stood on his island out in the middle of Lake Hylia and took a deep breath. It was cool again! Thank the Goddesses for getting him out of that damned desert! True, he had a job to do be he did allow himself a laugh as he leapt off the wooden bridge to dive into the deep blue water of the lake. _Ahh… It's so good to be back_ he thought as he twisted around to swim down to the bottom of the Lake and the Temple that waited there; the Temple that was his home.

Though he would have loved to take a few laps around the lake, Dark swam his way straight into the Temple gates that were set into the very bottom of his island. The entire Temple was actually inside the island which perhaps explained why he was so attached to it. The first room of the Temple was actually also the central one, the beginning passage starting off at a tower in the middle that had three floors. Each floor had a door in each of the four cardinal directions. Dark took a running jump from his ledge across the divide to land on the ledge that surrounded the tower. True, he could have just swam across since the water level was at its highest but still. A short walk to the other side of the tower and there was the door to the Bosses Chambers off to the right and there was Ruto the Water Sage sitting on the ledge across from him. She was not only the Sage, but also the princess of the Zora, a race of white skinned fish people.

"Welcome back Dark. How is the mission I gave you going? Tell me all about it." Suddenly Dark found himself magically sitting next to her. He didn't bother questioning it; this was her Temple and she could do whatever she wanted. So, he told his story. For the most part the Zora listened quietly but every so often she'd squeal and clap her hands together, like over Link and Dark's first kiss. "That is so adorable!" she screamed, making Dark wince. While he did feel that he had to show a certain amount of respect, the boss really was annoying. How did she get along with the other Sages? Thinking about that, Dark couldn't help the grin as he imagined Ruto getting her ass kicked by Nabooru.

Of course, Ruto thought that the storyteller was thinking back fondly of the days of having his lips glued to her one-time fiancé. While she was still a little jealous about it, at least she knew that Link cheating on her with another woman was a non-issue judging by the grin on Dark's face. He looked so happy that he had to be thinking of some juicy romantic encounter with the blond. If only she knew the truth…

They talked for several more minutes with Ruto pestering Dark for all the juicy details lf his journey when the water mysteriously stirred, "They're here. Well don't just sit there, you have work to do!" she commanded haughtily. Dark rolled his eyes and got to his feet to follow her through the door. When Link cam through, this room was an upward slope with spikes moving back and forth to protect the door. This time however, Dark was suddenly back in his room The decrepit old tree sat in the middle of the sand bank right where he'd left it. "Perfect…"

The Stalfos had their mission: secure the Boss room. In this temple, trying to reach the four minor conduits would be an exercise in futility; a Stalfos could not go underwater. They'd had to penetrate the Temple from above, dropping down from a hole dug in the ground on the island to land in front of the doors to the Boss chambers. Above the Temple and on the other side of the lake, the fisherman who owned the pond was stepping out to enjoy the weather stopped dead in his tracks. Hundreds of Stalfos marching single file across the long wooden bridges to the central island. The line stretched off up through the pass in the mountains for as far as he could see and the man spent the rest of his hiding behind his desk.

Dark was sitting, just waiting casually against his tree as when the door opened and the skeletal warriors started filing in. He gave up on ones and counted them in sets of ten. When they stopped at 150, he grinned, unsheathing his blade. "Well, we have ourselves a challenger. Alright, bring it on!" he shouted and ran into battle. Before reaching the first one he through his weight back to slide across the floor and rip through their legs then flipping onto his feet to parry in incoming attack.

Twisting his body to the side, a blade came down right where Dark's shoulder had been as he spun in the opposite direction, chopping the creature in half from behind and immediately swinging back to the left in a low wide arc. The ebon blade sang a high pure note with each foe struck down, as joyful as its master to be in battle. "Weak! You're all so weak!" he yelled, pouncing on one of the lone skeletons and ramming his blade through its head, leaving his hands free to snap its arm off and claim the enemies weapon before wrenching his blade free.

With two weapons he charged head first into the thickest area of enemies, his black hair fanning around him as he twisted and spun to slash in a whirlwind of blades. Just when it seemed they had him surrounded to all attack at the same time the boy vanished, dropping straight through the ankle deep water to shoot out like a cannonball several feet away. He only fell several more before dropping through the ground again, vanishing like a shadow on a sunny day and reappearing just as quickly.

"Come on. You think you can beat me on my home turf?" Dark laughed as he danced through the battle. Every slash, every spin was both graceful and deadly. Crimson eyes glittered with a fierce delight. It wasn't often that he got to take his leash off but now that he could, nothing would be held back.

His incredible speed and precision allowed him to pull off increasingly flashier moves; knocking someone up in the air with one blade and smashing them into the ground with the other. A Stalfos came bellowing at him only to get stabbed in the mouth and knocked to the ground as Dark hammered his sword through its skull with the heel of his foot. On and on the hours passed with never a break but Dark never tired. This was his world. Nothing could beat him.

-S-H-A-D-O-W

Link appeared in the Kakariko graveyard and as usual, it was raining. He headed down the stairs to find Impa waiting for him on the pedestal before the front door. That was certainly convenient since getting to her chambers from the front door was a good two hours walk. "Link. To what do I owe the honor?" Impa greeted cordially.

"Only the fact that the previous Sages all deemed my help as an insult to their warrior's pride," he grumbled and Impa laughed.

"Ahh, yes. Though Sages, none of use has really changed as a person. As it happens, I could use your help, though it will be very dangerous. The former Boss…I believe he was in the middle of working some kind of spell when you interrupted. I have a great many things to do so I cannot find out myself…"

"Wait a minute," Link cut in. "I would know if he were using magic. There were no traces of it."

"You play a song on that Ocarina the Princess left to you and travel across the country in the blink of an eye, change night to day and conjure up storms at your whim. Is it so hard to believe that similar things can be done on a drum? As far as I can tell, that song is one of resurrection. I want to know what he was trying to bring back down there."

Sighing, Link shook his head. The same concept crossed his mind before but it had been disregarded. The Shadow Beast was slain and was therefore no longer a problem, or so he thought. "Go into the Tomb below us and look at your map. It should update and then you can see what we are up against." Nodding, the Kokiri ran up the stairs and vaulted over the wooden fence to drop several feet to the pavement below, and then down the hole where the members of the Royal Family were buried.

Link scrunched his nose at the cold stale air that suddenly met his nose. The smell of mold, dust and bat droppings filled the air, along with another seemingly native to such areas, though he still couldn't put a finger on just what it was. Before plunging into that next room that could hold anything, he did as Impa suggested and took out his Shadow Temple map. "Farore help me…" he whispered, glancing over the parchment. The place was huge! Having full access to the entire map, Link saw for the first time just how extensive the Shadow Temple was, including not only the central Temple area and underneath the well but a sprawling network of tunnels that spread beneath the entire town.

Also across his map, it showed the locations of all the focal points that needed to be cleared. The same thing happened back in the Forest Temple where he'd been extinguishing dark spectral fires. Back there, he'd had two to contend with. Here, there was no fewer then twenty. Taking a deep breath, Link headed down into the next room to begin his new assignment. As before, what he'd thought was the main room was filled with an acrid green smoke that stunk his eyes and throat. "It would probably be easiest to just purify the place room by room."

Coughing, the Hero walked over to kneel in a corner to get at least enough of a breath to play a song on his Ocarina. All the Redeads in the room had been killed the last time and if any new ones arrived since then, he'd have heard them by now. First to take care of the smoke, Link took out his Ocarina and played the melody for the Song of Storms. Immediately, he felt a gust of wind playing around his ankles and stirring the air around him. The Ocarina of Time amplified the inherent power of the songs so he only had to play it three times to get a gale moving the stagnant air of the Tomb for the first time in decades. The strong winds swept through the room and when they subsided, the smog was gone, though the bubbling pools of acid from which they'd come remained.

Without the visual impediment, the room was only a moderate size; he could jog a lap around the entire thing in about thirty seconds. In the back was a small corridor to the tablet where the Sun Song was inscribed. There was also a door off to the left that he'd missed the first time; understandably because his partner and a pair of innocent children were in danger of their lives. Such times were not appropriate to go exploring. Of course he wanted to leave but the task of cleaning up still remained. The blade of the Master Sword gleamed in the dull light as he drew it from its sheath, as though it sensed impurities that needed correcting. Slowly, Link lowered the Master Sword into the first pit of acid and watched both the Triforce on the back of his hand as well as the blade of his sword shine with the same holy radiance. The acid frothed and bubbled as though it were boiling, steadily lightening in color until it was nothing but a shallow pool of water. One by one he cleansed the pools until all of them held nothing more then water.

As soon as the door opened a chorus of moans reached his ears. Redeads. With his blade in hand, Link crept down the ramp to come to an underground river or rather, more of a wide contained water way with stone pillars rising along the sides to hold greasy burning torches. Five Redeads stood in the water at various points along the river, but none were close to him. According to the map, this river fed out into the skull fountain at the bottom of the well and was the source of the water that filled it. Link paled, feeling even more ill at the thought of all those villagers who drank that water.

He sidled down towards the river and hesitantly stepped into the water. Nothing horrible happened to his foot but with the quiet splash, five wooden masked heads raised to stare at the intruder and slowly plod their way over in a desperate attempt to get their rotting lips on some fresh human prey. Cursing lightly under his breath, Link darted to the side to try and get some more movement room when another Redead appeared from around the pillar, its silent scream freezing him in his tracks.

That was how a Redead hunted; its gaze induced a paralytic fear in anyone who met its eyes. The Hero of Time could overcome that fear only because of the Triforce of Courage, and even then it was difficult. The hard rap of footsteps against the slimy cobblestones that lined the riverbed sounded closer and closer as Link struggled to make his muscles respond. The empty soulless eyes drew closer and closer with five more behind. By now the Kokiri was seriously starting to worry. Once a Redead caught its prey, the only way for the person to survive was for someone else to dismember the mummy. "Come on…come on…move!" Link shouted, swinging his arm in a hard backstroke that slashed through its neck and sent the head falling to the ground but even that wasn't a fatal blow. The headless corpse would continue its relentless march and hold the target down for one of its brethren.

A series of quick and brutal slashes reduced the creature to a pile of bloody limbs on the floor. Reaching into the wellspring of his magic, Link poured power into his blade, charging it and further darkening the air as the group of five drew closer. Step, step, he waited until all were in range before spinning and releasing the built up energy in an orange shockwave that knocked them off balance and giving him enough time to dart in and lop off the head and right arm of the leader before jumping back to safety. From there he reached into this tunic to lob a lit bomb into the center of the group. The explosion knocked three and leaving two of the zombies alone. Jumping into the air, Link slashed diagonally down through the whole Redead, shearing off the shrunken arm and head before twisting around to finish dispatching the earlier target and then tearing its partner to pieces.

Back by the door, the pile of severed limbs would be excreting a green ooze to put itself back together and it would be risky to wait any longer so Link ran to the side and played the Sun Song. As always, its bright cheery melody was accompanied by several shafts of light that incinerated to wounded Redeads. The other three quite literally froze. Their bodies were left immobile and covered in what seemed to be snow. If they were paralyzed, he could tear them apart one by one without fear of being snared and a moment later he was playing the song again to cremate the bodies of the last Redeads.

Off to the left, the water tumbled in a crashing falls that Link had no desire to follow. To the right, the river also fell down from higher up, leaving his only option of travel to cross the water and exit out a door on the other side. Again a thick cloud of acidic smog greeted the Hero, stemming from a pool of acid long and wide that blocked the only way forward and with the smoke, he couldn't see the other end of the room. Sighing, he again dipped his blade into the acid and drew upon the sacred powers of the golden triangle branded on him.

Perhaps it was the amount of acid but this time it took much longer to boil and even longer to cleanse. When only clean water filled the pool, Link leaned back against the wall feeling oddly lightheaded. Overusing his powers could be spiritually exhausting. Still, this wasn't a place for a Hero to linger so he again played the Song of Storms to disperse the smoke and trek his way down the watery path to the door at the other end. Creeping silently through the corridors of the Tomb, Link came across a large room with rows of coffins on shelves reaching to a high domed ceiling. Finally, the actual tomb. In those caskets would be the earthly remains of Hylian Royals who once ruled over the country. This was supposed to be a sacred place, and yet everything about the place reeked of corruption. Especially down at the far end of the hall. Link's magical senses twitched at a robed figure chanting in front of one of the coffins. Even from the distance, he could see basically what the druid was attempting to do and it infuriated the Hero.

Just one small pulse of energy from his Triforce to verify that the thing in the robe wasn't human, or at least wasn't human anymore and Link drew his bow and fired. His arrow took the Druid through the throat, silently dropping it to the ground. Whatever foul visage lurked beneath the hood of the fallen creature, Link didn't know and didn't want to know. He slashed through where its neck would be and watched the body burn beneath the heavy cloth robes.

A quick examination of the coffin showed that the spell had been unsuccessful. All the Royal caskets had been heavily sealed and protected at the time of their burial from just such occasions. He didn't even need to touch it to feel to powerful defensive enchantment that protected the body inside, though part of it was corroded. Perhaps the Druid had been coming here to slowly wear away the defensive spells to reach the hidden treasure. To break a spell such as this would take a great deal of time. And yet, some of the caskets had been broken into already, their enchantments worn away and the cover slabs smashed to pieces.

"Ten. There are exactly ten caskets with broken slabs…who…" Link laid a hand on one of the shattered rocks of the broken crypt and groaned as his magical sense broke down what was going on. Ten broken caskets, ten enslaved spirits and each of them felt familiar. Gohma, King Dodongo, Barinade, Phantom Ganon, Volvagia, Morpha, Koume, Kotake, Bongo Bongo. So each of the broken caskets had created a creature that had served Ganondorf's evil ambitions but it was the tenth that disturbed him the most.

"Dark. This one was Dark…" he whispered, horrified. What could it all mean? He had Nabooru telling him Dark was good, Sheik saying he was evil when Dark himself didn't know the answer. What if the Spirit Sage was wrong and Dark did turn on Ruto? No, by now it would be too late to worry about it. "We have a job to do, focus Link."

The presences in the room, the residual essences of the monsters he'd fought in battle…something about this place was affecting his Triforce. It pulsed, pulling him along and beckoning him deeper. Something was calling to him. Farther into the mausoleum he went until the coffins thinned out and only one remained, raised up on a central pedestal a few feet off the ground. A thick coating of dust rested over the top and he gently blew it away to read the inscription. "Hero of Seasons?" The emblazoned Triforce on the coffin lit up in the bottom right left no doubt. "This is…this is my grave."

The sudden knowledge that he was standing right in front of his own dead body had the Kokiri boy's knees feeling weak. Knowing abstractly that he was reincarnated from Heroes long past and standing before his own grave were very different. He could open the coffin…he could see his own corpse. A hollow chill built in the Hero's chest as he slowly stepped back away from the casket. The top was scratched and scuffed like the others. Someone had tried to steal his corpse…

The very thought of someone using his body in a loathsome ritual like that was absolutely unacceptable. Laying his palm across the top of his casket, the golden triangle emblazoned on the back of his hand glowed as he pushed his power outwards to repair the damage done to the protective enchantment. No one would be opening that any time soon.

But something was still calling him…

Curious, Link passed his coffin and passed through the next door and down a long twisting flight of stairs. The cool air grew hot and fetid as he descended like the breath of a malevolent presence hissing in his ear. At the very bottom of the stairs sat a door surrounded by wards, locks, binds and more other types of magical impediments then he'd ever seen… and yet, even those were full of holes as though they'd been eaten through. He could feel it, the dark presence leaking out of the holes. IT was the same power that had corrupted the rest of the Temple in the first place. This was the same power that manipulated Bongo Bongo. Thinking back, Link was amazed that he hadn't seen it before. Though the former Boss of the Shadow Temple, in its vaguely humanoid shape had a head, arms and a torso, below that it just faded up into the darkness. Feeling the mix of powers, it was clear that Bongo Bongo had been nothing more then a puppet. This was where the true threat lurked. This was where the real battle would be.

All it took was a simple touch for the binding spells to collapse and the heavy iron door to slide open. Link pulled the Mirror Shield off his back and strapped it to his arm, holding his sword at the ready and cautiously slipped into the room.

A system of low stone ditches crisscrossed the floor, carrying a flowing supply of acid to other parts of the temple and thick toxic fog permeated the air. Both foul substances seemed to come form one source. Behind a wooden X which sat over stains of human blood sat a figure more ancient and decrepit then any Link had seen before. Its ragged skin hung off its bones and dirty white hair hung limp and greasy in front of eyes such a light blue they may well have been blind. And it was breathing and staring at him. Hard as it was to believe, after having traversed a Temple where the living dead was a commonplace sight, that this ancient and foul creature could still be living didn't come as much of a shock .

It sat frozen in a block of solid concrete from the waist down and everything not cemented was shackled to the ceiling with golden chains infused with powerful spells of paralysis. All except his left hand which was a severed stump.

"Well. You finally got here. Come to kill me, have you?" the creature rasped, wheezing through lungs long disused. Something wasn't right here and it had the hair on the back of Link's neck prickling uneasily.

"It was you…the entire purpose of taking over the Shadow Temple was to release you. That was the spell on the drum, the desecrated tombs, the Redeads, the other monsters…you were behind all of it." The accusation drifted across the poisonous smoke as the remnants of spells cast and all this monsters dark arts appeared before him, flashing across his vision like a book he had no choice but to read. He saw how the bodies of the Royals had been twisted beyond all recognition. He saw how the Temple had been so corrupted. He saw how the Redeads were created and the disgusting images had his blood bubbling like the blobs of green acid dripping down the man's spiked and rotten teeth.

"But…how? I thought…it took a Triforce to make a Redead…and you aren't Ganondorf."

"You're right." Blue eyes stared into blue eyes as the prisoner flipped his right hand around to show the glowing mark of the Triforce of Courage on his right hand. "My name is Link."


	17. Conquered and Lost: Love

_**AN: So, i have this finished. Its somewhat lengthy so thats partly to blame. Partly, the Temple of Time section bored me to tears so i just had to summarize. Other small things i deemed unimportant have been chopped out because i didn't feel they added anything. On a happier note, i added some of my particular brand of comedy in heavy doses to keep the chapter light. I don't think it worked but i betcha i'll get smiles. Oh, by the way. IMPORTANT: I have the next chapter finished and waiting to post. I'll wait three days and we'll see how i feel about my reviews. Give me reviews please. I need them badly! Yes, its an addiction and i need help. Whatever. The fact is, i am holding chapter 18 hostage until i get my reviews! So! All you people reading silently, Now is the time to speak up. I am pretty sure several of you may go insane from this and come to kill me for making cliffhangers. Please don't. At least not until Ch. 20 is posted. Then you can feel free to come kill me if you wish. Good luck with that. And enjoy. I did work hard on this believe it or not ~**_

Conquered and Lost: Love

Blue eyes stared into blue eyes as the prisoner flipped his right hand around to show the glowing mark of the Triforce of Courage on his right hand. "My name is Link."

The Kokiri staggered back against the door, mind reeling. That thing…was him! All of a sudden it made sense. That was why he could so easily read the traces of the creature's magic and why he could instinctively know how Redeads were constructed. It was simply his Triforce reading back to him the things it had already done.

This was what would happen to a fallen Hero…to one who abandoned the path of the righteous warrior to seek his own selfish interest. This was Link gone evil and it had the Kokiri feeling soiled in some deep part of his soul.

"Why? Why would you do this? Why would you allow yourself to fall so far?" Link whispered to…to that thing. He refused to even recognize it as himself. The evil Link didn't grin so much as it flashed its rotten teeth in some kind of mockery of smiling.

"Fall? I am not evil, I'll have you know. We Heroes, ever since the very beginning, have never managed to kill off Ganon entirely. Somehow he always comes back. I decided that perhaps the way to kill him for good was to use his own tactics against him. You see, we are never actually more powerful then him. We get lucky and we use tricks and traps and manage to contain him for a while, but never once have we been stronger. I wanted to change that and you are going to help me."

To Link, that didn't make the slightest bit of sense. He could never believe a story like that; especially not when his mind was flashing with images of innocent people. Brought down here and tied on the wooden stakes as the once-Hero tortured them, stripping the skin from their living bodies and forcing the pain-wracked prisoner into acid until they were next to dead. And then, on top of it all, sucking the remaining energy out of them to leave behind an empty husk of corroded tissue that had come to be known as a Redead.

"There is no way in hell I will ever help you. You are a disgrace to all of our lineage!" he snarled. The shrivelled creature only laughed.

"I am the disgrace? No, no, there have been far worse then I. Did you think I was the only fallen Hero? Compared to some of our brethren, I am a saint by comparison. I remember when I first heard about how one of the supposed 'Heroes' had fallen to plundering and slaughtering, raping women…" It cackled and shook its head, rattling the chains on the ceiling. "But none of that matters. You don't have a choice. You see, a living person can only grow so strong while he lives and I have traded away my life for even more power. Now, I need your life to take the place of my own and I shall once again walk the earth."

The air thickened, as though a storm was brewing and a pressure built around the Hero, letting him feel the palpable energy in the air. "Wait…I need to know. The last casket out there was Dark. Who is he really?"

"He is our shadow. Whoever the Hero at the time is, he is the antithesis and he has been with us from the very beginning. I suppose if he were complete he would remember his past masters. But, after I take you, he can be next!"

And suddenly the power in the room shifted, hauling Link off the ground and strapping him to the wooden stake as a sacrifice to himself. Hanging so close he could smell the other Link's putrid breath as its tongue extended out of its mouth, cold and slimy and disgusting as it licked across his skin.

"Loathsome creature, get off!" Link shouted, dredging up as much magic as he could hold and hurling it out in a dome. Din's Fire surrounded his body and ignited the ghoul before him with a high-pitched shriek of pain.

The power holding him vanished, dropping the Kokiri and as soon as he hit the ground his blade spun out like a windmill, chopping off the scorched tongue to writhe around on the ground like a snake. The wooden beams he'd been held up against also caught on fire, making a flaming cross sitting in the middle of the green haze. Jumping to the side, Link used the time his zombie alter ego would need to recover to ram his blade into the acid pool and once again drawing on the power of his Triforce to purify the water. This time the river of acid was moving, so purifying it was a great deal harder, especially since he could feel another power resisting. Slowly but surely, the acid lightened in color until it was clear. But as soon as it was complete a burst of energy knocked Link against the wall. Laying dazed on the ground, the only thing he could think to do was to bring his ocarina to his lips and play the Song of Storms.

Stirring the dense air was also hard but he managed to start small drafts of air moving throughout the room that merged into a respectable breeze. "A weather working spell? Just what do you plan to do with that?" a voice sneered but he kept playing and soon he had multiple breezes, moving and clashing against each other. The rampant gusts at war with each other noticeably thinned the fog, leaving the specter stripped of both his major defenses. But he was still far from weak. A barrage of invisible energy bombarded Link like invisible hammer blows.

Slumped against the wall Link's fingers twitched, bringing the Ocarina to his mouth again and this time playing the Sun Song. The shafts of light appeared both around the Kokiri and his evil predecessor. The ancient creature hissed, pulling away from the sunlight like a vampire and though it pained him, it wasn't enough to be fatal. For the other Link, he felt his Mirror Shield soaking up the light shining down on him just as it had absorbed the magic spells of Twinrova. It wasn't enough to discharge but before he could play the song again something heavy smashed into his face. The Ocarina went skittering across the floor and Link blinked back tears, his vision swimming and nose dripping a stream of warm blood down his face.

Invisible hands hauled him into the air again as he stared into the ragged, wheezing face of Death itself. "You! I almost wish I hadn't had our shadow keep you alive. Almost. As it is, I need your life far more then that swine Ganondorf. Foolish pig didn't realize how easily he was being manipulated, even to the point of coming down here to help release his greatest enemy."

While the enemy gloated, the Kokiri boy was licking his lips, wetting them with his own blood and began to whistle. The cheery melody of the Sun Song floated off his lips to call down another shaft of light. It wasn't nearly so bright as the Ocarina version but the light was definitely there. The old Link didn't seem impressed by this last defiant act but it served its purpose. The light warmed metal of the Mirror shield further soaked up the energy and all Link had to do was raise his arm…

Suddenly, the pallid light was a brilliantly harsh, glaring blaze that had the agonized screams of the old ghoul who hadn't seen the light of day in hundreds of years struggling futilely to escape its dazzling radiance. The sun spots that swarmed his vision kept the from seeing anything but white. Without vision, all he could do was hear the sound of a blade arc through the air and feel the stinging bite of metal slicing into his flesh. When its eyesight returned, all it could do was scream as Link unleashed a fire arrow to incinerate his severed hand and the Triforce it bore.

"Fool! You've taken away…our only…chance…" Without the Triforce, the only thing sustaining him, the ancient fiend darkened and slowly stopped moving, his body hardening into a stone statue in a macabre likeness of the creature it had once been. Chances were that he probably wouldn't be back to cause any more trouble… but Link knew better then to take chances and hefted the Megaton Hammer over his head to finish off his foe.

Far away, down in the depths of the Water Temple, Dark stood victorious over hundreds of challengers in a massive one versus all brawl. And to top it all off, he did it without getting a single scratch. All in all, he was exhausted and extremely proud. His aching muscles responded only slowly, leaden and weighted down. Ever oblivious to the suffering of others, Ruto appeared in his room and practically kicked him out the door of the Temple and so Dark drifted to the surface and climbed his way out of the lake. He was just ready to pass out on the shore of the lake when he saw a green ball of cloth that looked suspiciously like his partner.

Indeed it was Link, laying hunched in a ball on the island. The foul, stagnant stench and otherworldly chill of the Shadow Temple was slowly fading away in the gentle sunlight and sweet smell of the little violet flowers that grew out of the grass. But nothing could erase the sullied feel left by the words of his predecessor.

"Link! Hey, you waited for me!" Dark called enthusiastically, walking over when he realized something wasn't quite right. "Link? Link, what's wrong?" Worried, he sat down and gently shook his partner's shoulder.

"Who are you?" The blond sounded oddly tense, as though hesitant to hear an answer. For a minute Dark panicked, wondering if perhaps his partner was suffering some kind of amnesia and had forgotten who he was.

Slowly, in halting bits and pieces, Link recounted the horrifying revelations he'd had in the Shadow Temple while Dark listened silently to the tale. All throughout the story he watched Link's empty eyes staring off into space, heard his stutters and wanted nothing more then to fix it. He'd never seen Link look so scared and that in and of itself was concerning. "The last casket had the same feel as you. I know that is where you came from. According to…him, you may be a threat. I ask again; who are you?"

Faced with such a painful accusation especially after all this time, Dark did the only thing he could; he shrugged. "I'm the shadow of the Hero of Time. I'm the partner of the only hope for salvation this country's got. And, I'm the one who is head over heels in love with the cute, shy, stubborn, never gives up and never backs down Kokiri boy who showed me a world beyond the fog. I'm your friend. I'm nothing more and nothing less then what I told you from the very beginning."

Sighing, Link collapsed onto his back, staring up at the thin clouds drifting high up in the sky. "I know…even knowing what I saw down in the Temple is true, I also know you. The least I owe you is a chance to defend yourself." He paused and sighed until Dark crawled up to lay his head on Link's chest. "I trust you, Dark, I just…I don't know what to do. The Redeads were created because of me. How many people have I killed? Or worse, how many have I damned? What if I become like that? I…facing myself, that was the first time I have ever been afraid. It only serves to make me feel even more stained. I must…never feel fear. Must never show weakness…but I was terrified."

Dark's arms wrapped around him and he instinctively burrowed into the protective embrace of the only person who could ever come close to understanding him. It felt odd for Link to need reassuring but at the same time, who better to ask? And Dark was more then happy to offer it, gently holding his partner through the first time he'd ever truly needed someone. "You're not him. I know what's important to you and I won't let you give up on it. You're going to win. You're going to save the country and be a Hero for all the world to see…and anyone who gets in the way will get my boot so far up his ass, they'll be tasting leather!"

Link snorted, smiling in spite of himself. He had to hand it to him; Dark could always make a situation seem better. "Ohh, hey Link. I know what you need! We thwarted the evil plot and all that so we probably earned ourselves a day or so of rest, right? What do you say to a little mischief before our big showdown?" Dark suggested with an evil grin. Normally, Link would shoot the idea down before it ever got any air but he was honestly curious about what his partner would do for recreation. When he thought Dark was off pillaging the countryside, he'd actually been fishing. Not to mention, Dark was only doing it to get his mind off of being depressed and he did appreciate the thought.

"Well… what do you have in mind?" Link asked warily. Knowing Dark, it would be something he didn't want to do, but he'd give the boy the benefit of the doubt.

"Oh don't worry. I'm already way ahead of your 'no sex' rule. But you will need to take some clothes off and follow my instructions. No backing down. Deal?"

Dark sat up and held out his hand and Link eyed it dubiously. He'd said it wouldn't be sex so naturally, Link was now very curious. Goddesses forbid he lose his partner's respect for refusing to play a game. On the other hand, beneath that innocent looking face, Dark was a crafty little fox and agreeing to this could be dangerous to say the least.

The Kokiri nodded and clasped the offered hand. "Agreed." Immediately, Dark yanked him forward and started whispering the plan in his partners ear.

The blond flushed crimson, his jaw on the ground. "What! That's…th-that's…. Dark, that's horrible!" He grinned. "Alright, let's do it."

-Gerudo Fortress-

Along up the river that fed into Lake Hylia at the top of a ravine and down a canyon sat the Gerudo's Fortress. For the past several days, the guards had been on high alert ever since a pair of twins had broken into the underground sanctum to steal a sacred Gerudo Treasure. Before that, the boys had been through to release the captured prisoners. All in all, these two boys simply seemed to like making messes for the commanding officers to clean up. To help prevent said messes, the guards were deployed on the completely correct assumption that sooner or later the two swordsman would be back.

On the second floor of the fortress, one of the standard guards made her rounds along the balcony she'd been assigned to. She'd been on patrol for a little over an hour and so far all seemed quiet until she heard a heavy thud and a gasp from inside the door to her right. Turning to hail one of the other guards, she flashed a hand sign to call for backup and a moment later a squad of ten warriors stood pressed against the wall, listening. What they were listening to stunned them all.

"Ahn! Dark, no, not so hard," a breathy voice gasped from inside.

"Mmm, I'm tired of hearing that. You're strong, you can take it," another voice teased, followed by another gasp and a long drawn out moan.

"Dark!" Link's scream echoed all the way throughout the fortress, drawing even more guards. The original squad could do nothing but stare at each other in bewilderment as more gasping and moaning reached their ears. Could they really be…?

The answer presented itself as Link staggered his way out into the full view of the entire contingent of Gerudo guards with his pants missing, his green tunic disheveled and blond hair dripping sweat. A second later a shirtless Dark sauntered out to wrap his arms around Link's waist with a satisfied grin. "Oh, good morning ladies. Fancy meeting you here. I really didn't think anyone would be around."

"Dark! You said no one would come! There must be thirty people here! Is that your definition of no one!" Link cried, turning dark red and burying his embarrassed face in Dark's shoulder.

"Eh, details," came the offhand reply before he sank his teeth into the blonde's shoulder.

Behind their veils, each and every single one of the Gerudo women felt something warm and wet and salty flowing down their faces.

Biting his lip but failing to contain the moan, Link turned to face the Gerudo who still watched in stunned silence. "Uhm…uhm…th-this isn't what it looks!" he yelled, a whole new torrent of blood flooding his face.

Raising his head, Dark licked his lips and then the blood running down Link's shoulder. "Don't listen to him, this is exactly what it looks like," Dark whispered to the Gerudo with a conspiratorial wink, seductively running his tongue along the tanned skin.

"Dark!"

And with one last grin they were gone. No flash of light or gust of wind. They were simply and suddenly gone. One by one, the guards all lowered their veils. Every single one had a stream of blood pouring from their noses to stain the stones underfoot.

A trail of blue energy dropped the pair atop the island in Lake Hylian laughing hysterically and clinging to each others arm. "That was amazing! Did you see the looks on their faces!" Dark gasped, pulling Link tightly against his chest. The blonde's grin was just as big as he relaxed into the embrace.

"Yes…you were right. That is indeed one memory I will cherish forever." Dark was right. It felt so good to just kick back every once in a while and have fun his way no matter what anyone else thought.

"See? Its fun messing with people. Those Gerudo didn't stand a chance. After all, you and me are pretty damn hot," he added with a smirk, pressing a kiss to Link's cheek. "So, you up for another one? I know someone else who needs a good nose bleed."

Link nodded, his grin matching Dark's own.

-Kakariko Village-

In the hallways of a certain inn at Kakariko village, the weekly cleaning was going on. The scent of roasting chicken drifted through the building, casting its inhabitants into a comfortable sleepiness, all except the cook. Ever busy she scurried through the kitchen, salting this and tasting that and stirring the other to make sure dinner went off without a hitch. The labors of a chef never cease. Another staff member who labored perpetually to keep the business going was the maid. Today the maid danced down hall, spinning and humming with her trusty feather duster in hand.

The open rooms needed cleaning so she dove into the work with a will, dusting tables and straightening covers and throwing windows open to let in the evening breeze. She worked her way down the hall to the last room, sliding her key into the lock and pushing the door open as a bundle of green cloth hit her in the face and hiding the first glimpse of what was going on in there.

Two boys, with black and blond hair stopped their rolling around in bed to stare at the intruding maid who stared back, her jaw falling slack and her feather duster slipping from numb fingers to clatter to the wooden floor.

"Mister Douliage! It happened again!" she screamed and turned to run down the halls to find the manager leaving Link and Dark to gather their clothes and jump out the open window to the cobblestones below. Dark dashed out of the back alley behind the inn and spun around, holding his arm up. Link high-fived his partner and the two ran out the main entrance of the village.

A few minutes later they stopped running to sit down on a grassy hill. A gentle breeze blew through the cool grass between Link's fingers when he felt something warm-the soft feel of Dark's hand resting lightly atop his, the breeze pushing their bangs back to let the Hero stare into his partner's crimson eyes. In the light of the setting sun, they looked like fire and for the first time Link saw the way Dark had looked at him from the very beginning. For the first time he really looked at his partner and was struck breathless. Everything from the glossy black strands of hair falling around his shoulders like raven feathers to the soft curve of his smile; Dark was…amazing.

_I wonder…is this…what love feels like?_ Link wondered, his eyes dropping to the soft pink lips. "Thank you Dark…I think I am ready. You?"

"Hell yeah. After we kick Ganondorf's ass, I'm taking you out someplace nice to celebrate. No backing out."

Link smiled and got to his feet. "That sounds good. First, we have a job to finish."

-Hyrule Castle Town-

The broken drawbridge leered at the boys like the mouth of some giant predator just beckoning them inside. Under the cover of darkness, they slipped across the splintered wood and into the crumbling remains of the old capital. The dilapidated buildings that rimmed the once-crowded streets provided the only cover to be found from the prying ears of the fell creatures that still wandered the streets. As soon as they were inside the walls, Link jumped to the right over a fence to climb silently through an open window. Little remained of what house had originally looked like but a large blackened table survived, though tipped over to block the stairs. Such a small barricade however could be over come simply by stepping over it. Quiet as shadows, Link and Dark slipped up the stairs into what was at one point a bedroom to again utilize the window as a quick escape route and drop into a garden below. By taking back alleyways and side streets, they moved towards the center of town while avoiding the main roads. Waltzing down the central road would get them there faster, yes, but drawing Ganondorf's personal attention would not be a wise decision.

All around, a dead breeze carried the sorrowful moans of the Redeads that roamed the streets of the capital. Best to avoid an confrontation with that as that would definitely draw attention. The stunted plants and dead tree rustled with the passing of two living beings and though they tried to stay out of sight, it always felt like someone was watching.

One think Link noticed when the path forced them to venture through a house was that in spite of the slaughter Ganondorf had wreaked upon the castle town, nowhere was there a single body left to be found. After the armies that had ventured into the Temples, it was abundantly clear what had happened to the mortal remains of the fallen villagers. The knowledge left Link with a hollow empty feeling in his gut but only strengthened his resolve to see Ganondorf fall.

Climbing over a low stone wall, they emerged in the side garden of the Temple of Time and it seemed a good place to stop and plan the attack strategy. However, they were not alone. Sheik waited, lounging against the wall for the Hero to appear and appear he did. He didn't expect the shadow to be following him.

"Welcome, Hero. You have overcome many hardships and now one final trial lies before you. A showdown with the King of Evil. Before that, there are things I wish to say to you…and only to you," Sheik added with a glance at Dark. The shadow boy bristled, growling at the implication that he was untrustworthy, but Link shook his head tiredly.

"It is alright, Dark. Just wait outside please." He didn't like it but after their day earlier, Dark wasn't about to go against Link's wishes and risk messing up their newfound relationship, so he swallowed his pride and left the temple to sit on the ledge by the stairs.

"Fine. I'm not all that bad you know," was his final statement before jogging out the large stone archways to wait outside.

Once he was sure that Dark wasn't being stubborn and trying to eavesdrop, Sheik continued, "There is another legend handed down by the Sheikah. The Sacred Realm, where you were sealed for seven years, is a reflection of the heart and the Triforce is the mirror that casts that reflection. The three parts of the Triforce; Power, Wisdom and Courage. If one with these three in balance touches the Triforce, he will be granted the True Force to govern all. Ganondorf did not have his heart in balance and only held onto the Triforce of Power. The other two are held within the chosen of destiny."

So far this was all information that Link knew, or at least suspected. He'd been fighting for a long time and was only just learning how to tap into the power of his Triforce. That was one of the things that made him nervous about the upcoming battle was that Ganondorf had a seven year head start in controlling the sacred powers he'd taken. It certainly wouldn't be an easy battle if all Link had to go on was the Triforce alone. He had Dark.

Odd how back at the beginning of his journey he'd be listing his tools and advantages to help win…now it was Dark who topped the list. Better not let him hear that though or the shadow's ego would be too big to handle.

"One is within you and the other is held by the seventh sage; ruler of them all…" A brand, the Triforce was glowing on the back of Sheik's hand and he vanished in a blinding flash of light. In his place stood the Princess Zelda. A taller and more dignified form of how she was in a dress of royal make with a long waterfall of golden hair to frame her blue eyes, Princess Zelda radiated regal authority.

Link was so shocked to suddenly see the elusive Princess that a blast of nostalgia hit him like a tidal wave. _He was ten years old again and standing in the castle gardens, hesitant to approach her. The memory was so vivid he could swear he still heard the gentle music drifting out of the open upper windows of the castle._

"Link…seven years I waited for this. I'm sorry for not telling you sooner but I needed to hide from the-no!"

Before Link even knew what had happened, an arrow was flying towards him, thrown from the princess's fingers like a dagger. He hadn't even seen where she got it from and he didn't get a chance to find out as a barrier that looked oddly like a fifty rupee closed around the Princess and Ganondorfs voice echoed through the Temple. Not to say anything in particular, but merely to take the Princess and leave behind a taunting echo.

Outside, the overcast sky darkened as thunder ripped across the heavens and Link ran out with a growled oath. Dark was surprised. The heroic blond scarcely ever used such language so when he did, things were obviously bad. "What happened? Over already?" Dark asked, running off after his partner. Somehow he'd expected those things Sheik wanted to say 'only to Link' were much shorter then expected. Either that or the mysterious Sheikah warrior confessed feelings for the Hero of Time and got sniped out of the sky. The very thought brought a satisfied smile to Dark's lips. Reality, though, was nothing so pleasant.

"Come, Dark, we must hurry! To sum up, Sheik is actually Princess Zelda and she's been kidnapped. Not to mention Ganondorf now knows we are here so stealth is pointless. In fact, time is of the essence!" That being the case, they abandoned stealth to run down the middle of the broadways of town towards where the castle sat. Out in the open, Dark now understood the need for sneaking around. No fewer then nine Redeads sat congregated around the fountain, slowly turning their deformed bodies to stare forlornly after the prey who ran by, far too wary to be snared by the gaze of a Redead's eyes.

Once they were out of the center of town, the Redeads thinned noticeably, though there was still one waiting every thirty feet at most but regardless, Link refused to slow down his mad dash through the crumbling necropolis until the castle was in sight. Located at roughly the same place the old castle was, aside from the obvious differences in color and architectural styling, the main difference here was that instead of a moat, Ganondorf's version was suspended on a floating island over a pool of lava.

Dark glanced over the edge of the ground and down into the fiery red vortex and even went so far as to demonstrate his distaste by spitting down into the dark fiery depths while Link searched for a ways to cross. The black stone walls had nothing to Hookshot onto and there was no way his Hover Boots would last all the way there. Fortunately he was spared form having to come up with an elaborate plan when a sudden burst of power from the Medallions hanging around his neck. The six treasures lay hot against his skin as bits of light rained down out of the sky to form a shining bridge to the castle gates.

One booted foot and then another came down on the bridge of light. It was more then a little disconcerting to see himself standing on nothing with only sparkles of rainbow colors between him and a short plummet to an excruciating death. That aside, the bridge felt reassuringly solid. "Well Dark, convenient things do exist after all. Let's go," Link called to his partner as he ran inside with Dark running along dutifully behind, muttering something about 'Stupid cute guys getting whatever they want.'

The inside of the castle held a faint reminiscence of the former owner. Plush velvet carpeting of deep red and royal purple held ages worth of dust, collected in the long interregnum since human feet had ceased to roam the halls.

"Fun place," Dark murmured uneasily, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds. He just couldn't help but feel like there was always someone watching… waiting to strike.

The tense cast to Link's shoulders showed that he felt it too. "Be on your guard, Dark," he cautioned and Dark nodded grimly, blade in hand.

"Yeah. Way ahead of you."

Surprisingly, the entrance hall had no traps of any kind, at least not any set off by the boys edging their way through. Only the dust bunnies could attest to their presence. The hall ended in a giant circular room with six other doorways edging the outside. Over each door was an insignia of a corresponding temple that emitted a beam of energy that formed a barrier to protect a central tower. So that was what was going on. Ganondorf was using the energy stolen from the Temples to protect himself.

With just a quick glance at each other to see that they both had the same ideas, Dark ran left and Link ran right, taking the first door underneath an emblem of the Forest Temple. The first room was small and fairly simple. After slaying a wolf who guarded the room, it was just an issue of lighting five torches. The wolf wasn't a problem; just one slash through the spine and it was gone. The only problem with the torches was one sitting on top of the door. A Din's Fire and an arrow later Link was standing in his second room.

This one was an odd mix of pillars and fans to cross over a bottomless pit. Actually, come to think of it, Link didn't know if they were bottomless or not. He'd never felt the need to jump down one and find out. Crossing the room itself wasn't too much of a problem with Hover boots until one particularly strong gust of errant wind almost pushed him too far but a quick click of his heels and Link dropped like a rock to his designated platform. Standing at the door the Hero was amazed. These traps were so simple; childish even and it made him all the more suspicious. How could Ganondorf have gotten so lax about his security?

Apparently Link's worries about some sort of ambush were unfounded. Walking into the next room, there was nothing there but two small pots and the core of condensed forest energy. All it took was a moment to analyze the spell on the barrier and the spell on the arrow Zelda had left him with. Putting two and two together, he copied the spell and sent an arrow through the floating ball and watched it explode in a burst of light. For a second, he could have sworn he saw Saria's silhouette before an inexplicable force grabbed the Hero and hauled him back through the a straight hallway to deposit him back at door to watch the stream of energy from the Forest chamber dwindle away into nothing. If that was it, this shouldn't be hard at all.

Indeed, meeting up with Dark back outside the shadow yawned in an obviously bored manner and confirmed that the Spirit and Water rooms had been "boring as hell." Five Light Arrows later the dark purple barrier just collapsed with nothing left to support it, leaving nothing left but for Dark and Link to walk back to the main door and cross the bridge into the tower.

Inside the central tower the air was even colder yet thick with dust and when the faint sound of organ music reached Link's ears, he swore again and turned to run up the only set of stairs. "I do not like this. Somehow I doubt the King of Evil takes time out of his day to keep up with piano practice because he enjoys music."

Each step of the stairs kicked up a cloud of dust to trail around Dark's ankles when he passed through. The thick carpeted stairs soaked up the stuff like a sponge. One good thing about the tower was how impossible it was to get lost. One set of stairs led to one door at the top to another room with one exit door guarded by… five Stalfos. Ripping his sword from the sheath on his back, Link leapt into battle with a series of vicious slashes. Dark was normally a taunting fighter who like to play with his opponents while Link preferred to stick to a more graceful style but today there was simply no time.

The bars were barely up off the door and they were running up the stairs again to the ever growing sound of organ music.

Another long flight of winding stairs and they breezed through a room of Lizafos. The reptilian warriors didn't stand a chance against the boys, especially not so pressed for time as they were. Whenever a lizard would bring his arm back to swing, the quick flick of a blade through the throat was the last it ever felt.

Next of course were more stairs. Both their legs were starting to ache by this point so Link distracted himself by launching into an explanation of what the attack strategy would be. If the enemy decided to use this style as opposed to that… Reaching the next landing cut off Link's monologue. In the back, Dark was mumbling something to himself, presumably taking notes.

This room held not one, not two, but three iron knuckles, complete with their traditional skull splitting axes.

Link took a deep breath, about to explain how they would attack. Dark shut him up with a quick kiss a murmured, "I love you so stay here," before running off and slashing all three of them awake at the same time.

The three living suits of armor took a few halting steps after Dark and all tried to attack at once but Dark was too quick, dodging in and out of their axes, sometimes being to close to one for him to attack. It ended up being that the Iron Knuckles attacked each other to take care of the cumbersome matter of the armor and when two were divested of the heavy metal plates, a quick stab through the stomach and they were dead. That only left one more.

"C'mere Link, gimme a boost." Dark called to his partner, running past to jump at the wall and spring off it to keep his momentum. Link dropped to one knee and cupped his hands together to make a step and launch Dark into the air where he came back down, slamming his blade down between the armor plates at the chest and head, killing the creature instantly.

"Dark. Have I ever mention how much of a showoff you are?" Link asked, slightly irritated as they climbed the next set of stairs.

"Yup. Frequently. Y'know, I think Ganondorf is a pervert." he added, out of the blue.

"Hmm? Why is that? Kidnapping Zelda is for no reason like that. I presume that-"

"No no. Each of these fucking staircases has exactly 69 stairs on it. Guy's a perv."

"… Is that what you've been doing this whole time? Did you even listen to a word I said on the way up here?"

"…17...20...24...29"

"I give up."

Finally they reached the top to pass one final massive door. The pallid, ever-present twilight that barely pierced the thick veil of clouds above the castle lit up the multitude of stained glass windows that rimmed high up on the walls. The organ music faded into nothing when the door slammed shut and far on the other side of the room and Ganondorf turned around to step away from the organ to speak face to face with his enemy for the first time in seven years.

Link stared across the distance at a red haired man with black enameled armor with sickly green skin but what struck Link were his eyes; Greedy, ambitious and power hungry. A man like this could certainly be the king of the Gerudo.

On the other side of the room Ganondorf was also sizing up his enemy. Standing before him was a competent and powerful swordsman that was somehow the end result from that scrawny kid to challenge him seven years ago. The King didn't focus on small things like blond hair or a muscular build. He noticed the alert and ready stance. He noticed the intense and focused gaze. And he noticed the second person to intrude, a near exact copy of the Hero of Time. No, not quite. Aside from the obvious differences in coloring, this second boy was thinner, smaller and lacking the piercing intensity that marked out the Hero.

A slow, sadistic grin spread across the Evil King's face when he realized just who this was. "So, three bearers of the Triforce I have gathered here, yet there are four people in this room." Raising his right hand the mark of power glowed, resonating with the other two as though they wanted to rejoin but couldn't while still trapped in their human prisons. Link felt his own Triforce resonating and high overhead Zelda screamed, her fragment struggling to escape from the bonds weakened by the interrupted spell song.

Ganondorf's next action was directed at Dark. The Triforce mark appeared, framed by the black bangs on his pale forehead. "I am surprised you survived, but since you were so kind as to return to me, you can return to your original duty. Now Kill." The golden triangles grew steadily brighter and Link turned around, backing up slowly as Dark advanced upon him.

"Dark! What are you doing!" he hissed, hesitating to draw a weapon against his friend. He'd just come to terms with himself, why would this happen now? It was just too cruel…

"Duty," was the dull response. "I must kill…you!" Dark screamed, dashing forward only to find his attack blocked by the long sword that appeared in Ganondorf's hand. "You! A gutless coward like you has no business pretending to be my master!" he snarled, putting all the force he had behind his strikes. Maybe it was the Triforce of Power; even with all his might he was unable to budge the Gerudo King.

Rather then upset, Ganondorf merely looked curious before shrugging it off. "Fine. Then begone," Ganondorf commanded and waves of darkness pulsed out of his Triforce to blast Dark against a wall, paralyzed by the purple electricity jolting through his body.

Noticing the worried glances Ganondorf called, "Do not worry, he lives. I need to find out what went wrong with my spell after all. But you should keep your eyes on me!" he shouted, hurling a ball of dark energy. Of course Link expected it. Underhanded tactics were to be expected from one who proudly wore the title 'King of Evil' and his blade slid smoothly from the sheath to strike from the draw. Since evil could not touch his sacred powers, Link's blade reflected the attack instead. Ganondorf raised his hand to bat it away but Link was already there, reflecting it back at point blank range. It exploded, shocking the desert man with the force of his own spell. Paralyzed, he dropped to his knees and Link was waiting, scoring through the black armor and leaving behind lines of flickering teal flames.

Shrugging off the paralysis the Evil King hovered into the air, panting as thick green blood dripped down his chin. The air suddenly shifted, drawing towards him as Ganondorf held his hands over his head as a kind of energy vacuum sucking everything towards it like a black hole. Link had to admit that careless as he was, the desert man had an amazing control over his Triforce, using it for practically everything. In his case, Link could only do certain things with it. He could purify, store extra items and had just recently learned how to break down the compound of spells. This one he saw was again made of dark energy and it left the user vulnerable.

The flash of blinding light erupted as a Light Arrow punched through his armor to explode. The tendrils of light spread, taking control of his spell and suddenly a storm of energy bolts were blasting the Evil King from every direction, knocking him out of the sky. Down below, Link was waiting to pounce like a cat on unsuspecting prey. The blade of the Master Sword bit into dark green flesh, slowly consuming it from the outside in.

Link jumped back just in time to avoid a sudden shockwave pulsing out from Ganondorf's body when he slammed a fist into the ground, causing sections of floor to collapse and drop down to the floor below. "Dark will be fine," Link told himself quickly. He already knew that there was indeed solid ground beneath this floor. It was a tower, how could there not be?

Another energy bolt flew his way and again a slash of the Master Sword sent it flying back but this time Ganondorf was ready for the tactic and smacked it back. They hit the ball back and forth several times when Link took a step forward. Just one step every time he hit it but it forced the bolt to travel faster, turning the contest into one of reflexes and sure enough one step made it faster then the Evil King could handle. One step and he couldn't stop the bolt and the next thing he knew, the blade of the Master Sword was sticking through the jagged hole in his black lacquered armor.

"I…how could I have underestimated that kid? No…you're nothing special, Link. It was the Triforce of Courage that I underestimated. Damn it…enjoy this while it lasts. I won't be so careless next time." Ganondorf dropped to his knees and overhead the crystal that contained Zelda fell to the ground and shattered. She looked shaken but otherwise alright. Ganondorf on the other hand, breath ragged and bleeding freely through back his head with a malicious roar, his Triforce shining as he called on its power once more.

"Link! We have to go! He's trying to collapse the tower around us!" The princess started running just seconds before a deep rumbling shook the tower, knocking loose stones from the ceiling to fall crashing to the floor.

Running back downstairs was marginally easier then going up but the collapsing supports overhead added to the difficulty. "Stay out of the shadows on the floor. It warns of debris," Zelda cautioned and from then on Link kept his eyes on the floor. Chunks of rock, flaming timbers and even a door from higher up came crashing down the stairs after them. It was only the heavy possibly fatal things that they bothered to dodge. The small pebbles and splinters of wood, while painful weren't the main problem.

Since he didn't see Dark laying around on any of the floors, he assumed that the black haired boy was lower down and escaping on his own. Sure enough, when they ran out the front gates of the castle several minutes later, Dark was sitting there waiting and on seeing Link he jumped up and ran over.

"Link! I'm so sorry! Farore damn it, I was useless in that battle! I… tried though but I couldn't move him an inch. Urgh! That pisses me off so much." Dark sighed, distraught over not being able to help but Link smiled, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Do not worry… You helped countless other times. You proved yourself loyal and Zelda was watching. She knows you didn't turn against me."

Well, Link was right. Personally, Dark always hated Sheik's guts and so having shown up his archenemy his depressed frown flipped around into a condescending smirk. "You're right. See, Princess? I'm not all that bad."

Considering that he was right, the Shadow did have some grounds to gloat. Though she rolled her eyes, Zelda wisely held her tongue. The castle chose that moment to collapse completely, leaving nothing more then piles of rubble where the castle had once stood. Both Zelda and Link let out sighs of relief but Dark was eyeing it distrustfully. "Link… gimme your boots" Dark demanded.

"Wh-"

"Just do it!"

Grumbling about Dark acting strange, he sat down and they traded boots. Oddly, they both fit the other's feet just fine. That was when another knock echoed through the ruins of the castle, louder this time. Slowly, the two swordsman walked towards the noise when a ring of flame sprouted around the outside of the island, cutting them off from both Zelda and escaping. The rubble exploded, flying everywhere as Ganondorf's bleeding form hovered in the air, his eyes rolled completely back in his head showing nothing but empty white bloodshot orbs as he surrendered himself to the Triforce in one last ditch attempt to win the battle.

Throwing his head back with a feral roar, Ganondorf's body burst into brilliant flames, snapping and contorting and expanding to the form of a giant bull-like creature. A pair of wicked looking curled horns had nothing on the giant sword in each of his hands. Standing at nearly twelve feet tall, the creature stomped a hoof that shook the whole island and screamed a challenge.

"Ganon. So you finally show yourself," Link muttered, a faint memory stirring at the back of his mind. He was just about to jump into battle when he felt Dark's hand on his shoulder.

"There's no way he's holding me back this again. This time, we fight together!" Dark declared andran into battle, desperate to redeem his earlier failure. This last battle had shown just how ill equipped he was to deal with higher situations. That he, Dark Link, did not have what it took to stand proudly next to the Hero of Time. Even still, he would do everything he could to help.

Ducking under the first swing of those mighty swords and diving to the left for the next, Dark swung his blade up to slash through the underside of the massive arm, but even with all his strength he only managed a shallow cut through the tough leathery skin when the giant fist backhanded him. While he was skidding through the dirt, Link was running in the other direction to get on his blind side when he spotted it: a glowing magic filled sphere on the tip of the monster's tail. If they could cut that off…

A slash from the Master Sword left the cleansing flames coating a small cut on the thick membrane at the tip of the tail. Howling in fury it spun around and sent Link sprawling. "Dark! Weak spot! Tail," he called , coughing and climbing to his feet. Ganon was advancing, ready tear the Hero's head off with a sudden searing pain in his tail had the giant pig beast spinning around to slash at the enemy attacking his sensitive tail.

Dark dodged the first swing but the second knocked him head over heels but when Link tried running up to attack it and get Ganon's attention, the colossal beast swerved its tail out of the way then swung it back, smashing into Link like a hammer. Growling, he pulled out an arrow and fired the intense burse of light right into the pig creature's eyes. Blinded, it shrieked its anger, flailing around trying to hit something on accident when another sharp pain bit into his tail.

That was how they fought for a while; Link would blind it and Dark would dart in and attack from a blind spot. Fast as Ganon was, his giant cumbersome body didn't have the reflexes to block arrows so most of them hit. Furious, he'd charge after the green clothed Kokiri only to catch another arrow in the face, allowing Link to escape.

The plan worked well until Ganon charged after the incessant archer and Link was left to contend with the fact that his quiver was empty. Panicking slightly he backed up as far as he could away from the swinging blades. Backed into a corner of debris with little room to move, one final heavy downward swing would have been the end of it if Dark hadn't darted in and caught the descending blade on his own weapon. "Go, move!" he yelled, breaking into a sweat and bringing his other hand to hold the blade up in spite of how it cut into his palms leaving several thin trails of blood running down his arm. Gritting his teeth and locking eyes with the Evil King.

Totally unexpected, or maybe he was expecting it and just didn't care, Ganon dropped lower, still holding pressure to his blade to thrust his head forward. The pitch black blade dropped from Dark's fingers to grip the bull horn goring him through the stomach. All it would take was a single shake of that massive head to send Dark flying but one click of his boots and he was suddenly weighted down with iron boots with a tight grip on the bull's horn, forcing him to stay on the ground. "Link, now! Do it!"

He could see the anger and pain flashing through the glowing red eyes as Ganon struggled to break free of Dark's grip. "Oh no you don't, I'm taking you down with me. No one gives me orders without my say so, you bastard." Smiling grimly he tightened his grip on the ivory horns. In truth though, his strength was failing. His blood splattered the ground like raindrops and he could feel the horn coming out the other side of his body. With how Ganon thrashed around and how much it hurt to have that horn rubbing his insides raw, he refused to let go 'til it was done.

_Ugh…damn. How long? How many more seconds can I keep this up? _The struggling monster was somehow able to pull together the strength to lift even the weighted down Dark off the ground when a triumphant cry from Link signaled victory. With a vicious swing of his head, Ganon dislodged the boy impaled on his tusks, spinning around only to meet the Master Sword being rammed through his eye and into the brain of the gargantuan beast, leaving a large gash that already started seeping out some foul smelling substance.

"Six Sages! Now!" Zelda yelled from outside the ring of fire and all that ceased to be important.

Link was horrified and watching in slow motion as Dark's limp body dropped to the ground, blossoming crimson flowers of blood.


	18. Broken

_**AN: Ok! Good job guys, you have shown me what i wanted to see. It's nice to see that people pay attention when i talk. I woke up this morning to find 17 reviews waiting for me. 17! Even Rei, who just dropped a note cause i asked for it, thanks. So, after discussing it with my editor, i'll release 18. Thank God for touch typing. I seriously cried writing this, so many times. Its short yes, but i've been working on this one for the past month. I've been dying to get here and i re-edited it at least 8 times cause i wanted it to be perfect. Poured my heart and soul into it. Also, this is the only chapter where i was listening to something not just reorchestraed Zelda music. If you want to see this chapter how i saw it, Youtube Safe Escape by Keith Varon. Enjoy. -I hope i'm not the only one who cries -**_

Broken

Finally it was over. The Dark Lord Ganon was sealed in the void of the Sacred Realm and the root of all his evil had finally been severed. For Zelda, there was nothing but relief that she could finally start rebuilding her country, and relief that the battle was over and all was well. For her, at least. The Hero was another matter entirely. For Link, there was little to be relieved about. For Link all was not well, and it might never be well again.

As soon as Ganon's monstrous form vanished from the desolate island where their showdown had been held, Link immediately ran as fast as he could manage over to kneel by the pillar where Dark's fallen form lay drenched in a pool of his own blood. "Dark! Stay with me, Dark. Just hold on and I will get you some help," Link choked out, frantically searching his pockets for a forgotten fairy or a bottle of red potion, anything that could save his partner from this grievous wound. The battle had pushed him to his absolute limits and the thought of losing his partner on top of that had Link at the breaking point.

Dark just shook his head slowly, a smile spreading across his tired face. "Sorry Link, there won't be any miraculous Heart Pieces coming to save us this time. Guess my luck…finally ran out," he whispered. In spite of the situation, Link couldn't help but smile through tear-hazed eyes. It was so like Dark to be cracking jokes with what very well could be his last breath.

Gazing up at his partner through heavily lidded eyes, Dark's heart gave an anguished pang. It wasn't from the massive hole in his chest left over from being impaled on one of Ganon's giant tusks. It wasn't from the life slipping from his grasp into the pool of blood on the ground. No, it was from the tears dripping off Link's chin to fall into damp spots on the black tunic beneath him. "You cannot die. I will not allow it. You…you promised," Link whispered unsteadily, shaking from the sobs that wracked his body. Dark sighed, fighting as hard as he could against the pain. It was so hard to hang on now that he was finally ready to let go.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was just…glad I kept you safe…looks like you still got hurt anyways. Y'know this is the first time I've ever seen you cry?" he asked, slowly reaching up to brush a tear off Link's cheek.

"When I wanted to cry, I couldn't because I…wasn't allowed. I had to stay strong for my mission, but that is over and I am done caring about it." Link shut his eyes, taking a deep breath. He still had some uncertainties but it was now or never and he certainly would not spend his life regretting his cowardice in Dark's final moments. "… I love you. Please, fight. For me."

Dark sighed. As expected, his adorable Link had to make everything so complicated. The boy's sincerity was heartwarming and Dark wanted nothing more then to fight with all his might to survive this and spent the rest of his life at his partner's side. How could he say no to that angelic face? How could he say no to those wide, innocent, vulnerable eyes and that heartbreaking look? The only problem with that plan was that he was already holding on with everything he had and he knew his strength would not hold out much longer. Damn the Goddesses and their ironic cosmic conspiracies.

Zelda slowly walked towards them, still unable to fully comprehend what was going on. She knew she'd heard correctly when Link told Dark he loved him. The Hero of Time being of 'that type' threw a serious problem at her plans for the future. After all, she had a kingdom to think of so perhaps it was for the best the dark-haired one was dying. But then Link turned to look at her, a mixture of hope and hopelessness shining beneath the innocent blue depths of his eyes. "Please, Princess, can you save him?" Link asked, either uncaring of the tears running down his face or too far gone to notice.

_Think with your mind. Your heart can be greedy and treacherous, caught up in its own wants and the spur of the moment. Your emotions will lie to you but reason and logic will never fail. You have a kingdom that needs you and any mistake can spell doom for you and all its inhabitants._

That was how she'd been taught; to look at a situation from every angle and consider all the possibilities from an objective standpoint. It was more then just a part of her royal responsibilities, the Triforce of Wisdom was branded into the back of her hand. Quickly she mentally reviewed her facts:

_Ganon is gone. Link is now a hero and a rallying point for the entire country. They would not react well to know that he was in love with another man. It would destroy his credibility and make him unusable, perhaps even a liability. Instability is not something I can afford. If I allow the dark one to die, Link will turn to the closest thing he has left; his duty. From now on his duty is me. Without Dark in the picture, Link would make a very fine knight and I need all the help I can get._

It seemed like Dark was an obstacle and if that was the case, Zelda would sit back and watch him die without remorse. On the other hand, was it fair to so casually throw away the life of someone who had fought for Hyrule's freedom? Frankly, that was none of the Princess' concern. What did concern her though was what if the loss of his partner crippled the Hero beyond repair? He'd said 'love' after all and love could be a very powerful thing. This was not a situation to take lightly.

That was when the realization sank in; She'd heard it in his voice, could see it in his eyes. Even her Triforce was reacting to it, for Nayru was more then just the Goddess of Wisdom. She was also the Goddess of Love, Compassion, Order and even Time itself. Should she act in the interest of a the spirit of Love and allow Dark to live, or in the spirit of Wisdom and watch him die? What would Nayru do?

_**Daughter, what is loving is always wise.**_

The voice sounded in her mind as clear as if someone had spoken out loud. Sighing, Zelda nodded and got to her knees beside Dark. Much as she didn't want to, the wishes of her patron Goddess had been made clear and disobeying the voice of the Goddess was the very definition of unwise.

As she laid her hands over the gash across Dark's chest and began probing his body to feel out the damage, also let go of all her preconceptions. Never mind how she'd waited for Link, fighting in the place of an absentee Hero for seven years. Never mind how she fought to hold on when all her people were losing hope and certainly never mind how she'd secretly fantasized about him only to find he was frustratingly out of reach. None of that mattered.

Dark's breathing was labored and his skin was ashen but he still managed to briefly open an eye and whisper, "Thanks Princess. I told you…I'm not…all that bad…"

_I was wrong. I hate to admit it but I was wrong. This power that composes him is nothing like what Ganondorf used. How could I have made such a mistake?_

"He is alive, but only barely and I do not have the strength left to heal this injury," Link paled as she quickly added, "But. I do have one idea to try… Goddess of Wisdom, guide my hand." she murmured, holding her hands apart over the gaping hole, conjuring up a golden flame to hover right on top of it, covering the hole in him. "Now, empty your pockets. Anything you can afford to lose, burn it," she ordered, shutting her eyes to mutter, mostly for her own benefit. "I haven't the energy so we just need to make some. This should be a spell to change mass into energy."

Zelda nodded as Link pulled off his quiver and laid the empty container on the magical pyre. The golden flame consumed the innate energy within the quiver and scattered the dead ash to the wind. "More." Link nodded and dropped in his childhood toys. The pouch of Deku seeds that he used as slingshot pellets vanished into the flames along with the slingshot itself and his boomerang. He added his whole stock of Deku sticks but it still wasn't enough.

"Give me the bombs. It'll be fine." Zelda assured him when he hesitated to drop the bag of explosives into a lit flame. Instead of lighting, they shriveled up as the Princess sucked the energy out of them to redirect to reconstructing Dark's body. He wasn't looking any better but at least he wasn't looking any worse. "I need more! Do you care about this boy or not!" Zelda shouted and Link dug out his Megaton Hammer to sacrifice.

"This wound is far deeper then I'd ever expected. Not only is it laced with dark magic, but the power of the Triforce is behind it. Just keep giving me things until I tell you to stop. " she explained and Link nodded, just starting to understand the extent of what was going on here. He dropped in the Eye of Truth to tide the flames over as he stripped his boots off Dark's feet and dropped them, along with the weight and hover modifications into the fire.

"Dark, you had better survive this," Link whispered to his sleeping partner as he pulled off his gauntlets, sacrificing them along with both his Goron and Zora tunics. Soon, his pockets were completely empty, save for the Ocarina of Time. He didn't feel it would be right to sacrifice that.

"It still is not enough. Nayru, how did I make such a mistake? He was alive. A real, living, breathing person. I can feel it now… a soul. This is no Dark Magic. I'm sorry, Link ,but I've done all I can. Just think of it as a noble sacrifice and you'll get over it eventually. We did our best. Time heals all wounds and there will be plenty to keep the both of us busy."

"Noble sacrifice? You know you were wrong about him, you admitted it yourself! Why? Why do you want him to die?"

Zelda sighed, tucking a strand of hair back behind an ear. "Every battle has acceptable losses. I think it would be more beneficial for everyone if you could work without distraction. We must do what is necessary to see justice return to the land. We have all made sacrifices in this battle and-"

"Acceptable losses! Is that all he ever was to you? Is that how you treat the one of the few people I could truly consider my friend, as some disposable tool in the big picture?" Link cried furiously. "Don't dare talk to me about 'justice' when you are so willing to give up any life for your cause. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. I will save him, with or without you," Link growled as Zelda stiffened beneath his piercing blue glare.

"Do you think it was easy for me to watch my people suffer all these years? How do you think I felt watching my parents die right in front of me? I don't like him, I admit it. But there is too much damage for me to heal in my current state. Put very simply, I do not have the strength and I do not intend to die for your disgusting love affair. I have Wisdom, and it tells me to never fight a battle I can't win. Dark is an unwinable battle because I have already done everything I can do. Give it up," Zelda sneered coldly. The sheer haughtiness of the princess, after all he'd done to save her, to save the _kingdom, _amazed Link. How could she do this to him?

Gritting his teeth, Link tugged his gloves off and bared the Triforce. "I have Courage and it tells me that I must never break a promise, and never let down a friend. It tells me that I must not give up no matter how hard the going gets and to always fight with everything I have." The golden triangle on his hand burst into brilliance as he copied her energy conversion spell, making golden flame to pool in Dark's injuries. However for the spell to work, it needed something to take energy from so Link looked Zelda in the eye and ripped the Light Medallion off the chain around his neck and dropped in into the blaze. The Forest, Fire and Shadow Medallions followed, along with his Zora scale that allowed him to swim to greater depths.

"Damn it, it isn't near enough. There's only one thing left to do. Dark…" Link sighed, taking a deep breath as he reached into the very core of his being and started emptying the pool of his magic into Dark's body. His entire world spun around as he poured out his magical essence, feeling like his soul itself was shriveling up with the absence. If his soul itself was the price to save Dark, he'd gladly pay it. The power of his magic burned away the lingering taint of Ganon's dark power at the cost of Link's permanent magical ability as his very capacity to wield magic depleted until it was gone.

"I told you. It's useless," came the princess' cold remark from behind him. "And now you've gone and crippled yourself. I hope you've learned your lesson."

"That's enough! If you will not help me then stand aside and be silent." Link snarled, staring into Zelda's eyes as he unsheathed the Master Sword, reversed the blade in his grip and pressed the tip to his stomach. "Dark… if I can't save you, will you wait for me? I'll be right behind you." He whispered, tears sliding down his face anew as the sacred steel blade pierced into his flesh in splash of blood. His head swam and the world spun leaving the Hero gasping for a breath he was unable to draw. The strength melted from his limbs, forcing the blond to his knees, kneeling over Dark's body with one hand on the ground and the other on the hilt of his sword, slowly pushing it further in.

"Idiot! You'll kill yourself! I command you to stop!" Zelda screamed but Link just shook his head.

"You have not the right. Enjoy your kingdom…" he smiled, blood pouring out of his body and down the length of the Master Sword to stain his hands, pulsing to the rhythm of his heart to fall into Dark's golden flames. Each heart beat he held on was another breath of life he'd earned for Dark.

"Come on…wake up. I said I would give you a chance…how can I do that if you aren't here! Please, you have to wake up! " Link begged, sinking his teeth into his lips and fighting through the pain as inch by inch he pushed the blade deeper into his body. It met resistance, not wanting to go any further. The Kokiri boy grit his teeth and pushed, choking back a scream when the cold steel blade pierced through his back.

Link shivered, his blood-slicked hands sliding along the hilt of his sword. Through the pain and tear-hazed vision, the color was slowly returning to Dark's skin even as it drained away from the pale blond. The spread-winged hilt pressed up against his ribs and Link took a deep breath to steady himself. Fully impaled on his sacred sword, there was only one place left for it to go. If his dying would save Dark's life, he was ready to sacrifice himself for it. After all, he finally understood what Nabooru meant and the Hero of Time wasn't satisfied with living as only half a person any more.

Dark's eyes slowly opened just in time to see Link reverse his grip and rip the blood soaked Master Sword from his stomach. Crimson eyes widened as sapphire ones closed and Dark watched his partner collapse with an agonized scream in a fountain of blood to fall against him and hold him tightly, pressing his freely bleeding wound against the golden fire. Dark could feel strength, Link's life flowing into him and tears building. He just couldn't stand seeing the other boy in pain. Why did he have to be so stubborn at the worst times?

"Hey…what's wrong? You look like you just lost your best friend," Link whispered, slowly shutting his eyes."

"What do you think you're doing! This isn't…what I wanted…damn it Link, you were supposed to live, not me!" Dark sobbed, cradling the blond's frail and bleeding body against himself.

"You were always the one protecting me ever since we met. Just once, I wanted to be the one to save you," he whispered, leaning in to gently press a kiss to Dark's lips, memorizing the warmth, the texture, the taste. And as they kissed, he felt Dark growing fainter, fading away like mist before the morning sun… and then he was gone. Nothing was left behind of the his shadow. Nothing but a faint taste and a memory.

"Dark…he's… gone," he whispered. It…couldn't be true. How was it that after giving up everything he had it still wasn't enough? Had Zelda been right? Was it all hopeless from the very beginning? Was there any point to trying? The Hero didn't know, didn't care. All he knew was that Dark was gone. " I'm sorry Dark…forgive me." Over and over he whispered apologies to the night air as he hugged his knees to his chest, totally uncaring of the blood pooling on the ground around him. In all the world he'd never had more then his sword, the clothes on his back… and Dark. "I wanted to tell you…I should have told you a long time ago. I love you…"

Princess Zelda watched the entire exchange from the sidelines, picking up the Ocarina of Time from where it lay forgotten on the ground. Link was a strong person, stronger then any she'd ever met. She'd never dreamed anything could break the forest boy but to see him laying there with tears running down his face and eyes devoid of expression it was obvious that she'd grossly miscalculated. As Sheik, she'd kept watch, ready to strike Dark down should he prove to be treacherous but he and Link were always at each others throats anyways. Until now, it always looked like they didn't like each other at all. How could she have known that she truly had no idea what either of them felt?

_It seems I still have a great deal to learn._

Until she'd seen them laying side by side for that brief moment she hadn't understood just how their relationship worked. How could she? It was so fundamentally different from anything she'd ever seen before. For Link to lose someone he'd always kept grudgingly at arms length and suddenly be left looking so lost and alone…

Maybe it was to try and make up for everything she'd put him through. When she thought about it later, Zelda wouldn't be able to come up with a good reason for it. She just acted, playing her lullaby on the Ocarina of Time to send him back to where he belonged, back to the life he'd had stolen from him. It wasn't much, but it was the only thing she had to offer.

A gentle blue light enveloped the Hero, carrying him into the heavens and back to his own time but when he opened his eyes, all he saw was black in every direction. "Am I... dead then?"

"_**Welcome, Hero. Your triumph has been noticed and we have come to grant you your reward.**_"

The voice sounded out of nowhere but echoed everywhere, filling the vast emptiness. Link looked around to see who was speaking when three statues of gold shining as bright as the sun appeared before him. The Three Golden Goddesses; Din, Nayru and Farore. He could even tell which was which from the color of their eyes; red, blue and green respectively. This whole situation…it felt oddly familiar, like he'd done it before.

"_**You have indeed been here before. Every time you have triumphed in the past, we have called you here to grant your reward."**_

The voice of the Goddess, merely standing in their presence made his head spin, as though many people were all talking at once but he could only barely hear it. He was about to argue, saying that he hadn't had any triumphs over evil yet when a sudden memory, clear as if it happened the day before flashed through his head.

The very first time he'd defeated Ganon by skewering him with arrows made of pure silver and rescued the princess who had been Zelda at the time with the completed Triforce of Courage, they'd summoned him here to the realm of the Gods. "Goddesses, Ganon has sworn to return. Grant me the strength to succeed when he rises again."

"_**A Hero never succeeds on his strength alone. We shall grant you a sacred weapon that evil may never touch. The Master Sword."**_

Later. That same Link had to save Zelda again to prevent the resurrection of Ganon. That was the first time he'd seen Dark, challenging him to prove his worthiness to again lay a hand on the Triforce. "Goddesses, grant me the courage to fight again. I want to stay a Hero and protect the people important to me." 

"_**The trials of a Hero are always remembered. Your spirit will live on as long as your name. Your weapon, the Master Sword shall be bound to your soul. As such, you shall have that same power to banish evil in whatever age it may arise. This is the decree of the Gods."**_

On and on the memories flowed through his head, playing crystal clear and giving him glimpses into his lives long past. One recurring theme seemed to be that whatever he asked for, the Goddesses would slip in a little something extra. Maybe a future Link would blame him for this decision but…

"Goddesses, the path of a Hero is a high and lonely destiny and I…am not a Hero. Please, make me complete. Give Dark back to me." He only whispered his petition but surely the Goddesses could see the turmoil in his heart…and yet…

"_**Your wish is granted. But it would not be fair for us to give something already in your possession."**_

Link's heart skipped a beat. Already in his possession? Did that mean Dark was alive!

"_**Yes, your shadow lives. You poured out your life to save his. However, we have rules to abide by also. The flow of time has been disrupted by your journey and we are setting it aright. You will find Dark and may have him until we have completely repaired the flow of time. How long this will be, we do not know, but savor your time."**_

That was when Farore stepped up and turned around to face her sister Goddesses.

"_**Hold a moment. Look at all the sacrifices my servant has made. How will this end? I do not wish to see him deprived of that which he seeks. Nayru, will you grant him that which he has given so much to acquire?"**_

"_**Very well. Hero of Time, you shall have the power of time at your aid to use that which you have earned. If you should have need of the Goddess of Time, speak your prayers and I shall listen."**_

"_**Now go. Your world awaits."**_

The Three Golden Goddesses started to glow brighter and brighter until he couldn't see anything but the light of their brilliance

Link woke with a start in the middle of the night, more then confused. He was eleven years old again and laying in his bed back home in the Kokiri Woods. Could it all have been a dream? The gleaming blade of the Master Sword sitting against the wall said without a doubt that it was not. That meant, according to the Goddesses that Dark was out there somewhere…waiting for him.

"Wait for me Dark. I'll be there soon." Link whispered his solemn oath to the night air. He would find his partner no matter what.

Far away in the Realms of the Gods, Dark glanced around as the Three Golden Goddesses appeared before him as well.

"_**Welcome Hero. Speak, and we shall grant you one wish."**_

Dark smiled, listening to the story of what he'd missed. "Well in that case, there's only one thing I want. My wish is…"


	19. Surrender

_**AN: Well my friends, this is it. The last chapter. It's been a long and fun journey and i had lots of fun. But, i'll keep this AN short and sweet. Look at the title. Time for that patience to be rewarded just like i promised all those chapters ago. I did have to make a few changes to make the story flow properly but yes. I'll be posting the epilouge in a few minutes and that will explain it all.**_

Surrender

He'd always thought it was all so confusing. Even surrounded by people, why did he always feel so lonely?

After so many years of wondering, he finally had the answer: his quest was the only thing he'd ever had to focus on. It drove him, consuming his time, thoughts, and energy. Now that it was over, what else was there? For Link, there was no purpose left in life. At least, that's how it would have been had Dark not come along and showed him how to smile.

"I wish Dark were still here…" he whispered as he sat by himself out on a hill beneath the moon. His hand moved its way to the spot over his heart where the Water Medallion used to hang… but that was gone, along with the rest of his gear. Now that the flow of time was fixed, the tools he'd used on his journey were all back where he found them in the…

Wait a minute…

Link whipped out his fairy ocarina and brought it to his lips, playing the familiar notes of the Nocturne of Shadow. The slow, depressing tune rang out through the empty hills and the next instant he was sitting in Kakariko graveyard. To the one side was the entrance to the Shadow temple, but he didn't care about that right now. Looking out over the graveyard spread out beneath him, Link leapt off the ledge he was standing on and ran down, weaving and jumping his way through the graves to the single point of light in the graveyard. The lantern, carried by Dampe the grave keeper swung slowly from side to side as he made his normal rounds.

"Mr. Dampe! Mr. Dampe!" Link yelled, running up to the gravekeeper, panting quietly. The old man, a bald albino, looked more like a troll then a man, but Link had learned not to judge people's appearances. The old grave keeper was actually a nice guy.

"Ehhhh? You young kids aren't supposed to be out here. Hooligans messing around with the gravestones. Why, it's disrespectful, I tell ya!"

"Yes sir, it is, but I was looking for you. I need a favor," Link answered, completely ignoring that fact that he'd been through every grave in the entire graveyard multiple times

"A favor, eh? What do you need from old Dampe. Did you want to play my Heart-Pounding, Grave-Digging Tour? Its just 10 rupees to play." He had just said it was disrespectful to play with graves, but he'd dig them up? Adults with their double standards…

"No, no no, thank you though. What I need is to borrow your treasure, the Hookshot. Please, it's just for a few days and I'll get it back to you. I can pay whatever you want but please…" Link asked, feeling like it was a race against the clock as he scrambled to dig out his wallet.

"Hmm? I use it you know…and it's so much fun to play with."

"Please!" Link screamed, getting frustrated, "If you let me borrow it, I'll bring you a better one with double the range. I need this one to get the better one though…and…a very important friend is waiting for me." Link looked away, gritting his teeth as a pale blush spread across his cheeks.

"Har har har…alright, little one. I'll let you borrow it for a few days." Dampe handed over the Hookshot then hefted his shovel. "Now then, are you sure you don't you want to play my Heart-Pounding, Grave-Digging Tour?"

Link politely declined and dashed off towards the village square, going over the items he would need. "Let's see… I'll need the boots, but if Zora's Domain never freezes, how do I get into the caves? …Ice Arrows? No, that won't work. The Gerudo Trials take too many items I don't have. Hover boots…for those, I need the Lens of Truth. To the Windmill, then."

Inside the giant stone Windmill, the wooden gears turned, spinning the windmill in time to the rhythm of the song. An old man sat in the corner playing a strange instrument. It looked like a wooden box with a trumpet horn on top that he turned with a crank.

"Go around, and around and a- Hey, kid! This is no place for you. Go play outside or something."

The Fairy Ocarina came to Link's lips as he played the Song of Storms, drowning out the old man yelling and the creaking of the windmill. There was nothing but Link and the music. He played and played until he felt a sudden draft of air stirring around his ankles and rising up to form a grey cyclone around him. Outside, the villagers watched as their bright sunny day was suddenly blotted out by dense storm clouds. Thunderheads rolled in out of nowhere and started pouring down rain and the howling winds pushed the windmill, spinning it much faster then it had ever gone before. With the windmill working at full capacity, the water drained out of the well right outside, diverted to Goddesses only knew where. The old man looked around in panic at the out of control windmill "Hey, kid! It's going way too fast! What did you…!"

But Link was already out the door, running down the stairs and around the corner to the gaggle of people standing around the well, discussing what could have made the water go down.

"Outta my way!" Link yelled, pushing his way through the surprised crowd of people to jump down the well. About halfway down, he caught onto a rung of the metal ladder set into the side of the well to stop his fall…then let go again. This time, he was close enough to the ground to not break a leg as he hit the ground running.

**Dark. Narrow. Scary. The Well of Three Features**!

That's how the sign described it anyways, but Link would have argued a few other features. He honestly hoped the townsfolk didn't use this water for anything as he passed several piles of moldy old bones laying to the side. A giant spider dropped down from the ceiling, its skull backing made to intimidate its prey, but Link had ceased to be impressed long ago. As soon as it turned around, he pulled out his hookshot and speared the thing through its soft underbelly, and kept right on running through the cloud of emerald flames that consumed the corpse.

Ahead, it seemed to be a dead end, but Link knew better. That wall was nothing more then an illusion. The main room down here at the bottom of the well was a rough square. Stone canals carried water in from hallways to the left and right while right ahead sat a little alcove. If Link recalled correctly, the only thing over there was some bombs and a hole down in a pit that he couldn't reach yet due to it being filled with water. Setting off to the right, Link followed the trail, making sure to go splashing the entire way through the ankle deep sewer water in the canal. Otherwise, he would be liable to step someplace with a fake floor and he couldn't afford to waste time falling down into Goddess only knew where. Dealing with Redeads was not pleasant with such an inadequate weapon.

Just a quick jog away, Link found what he was looking for. Above an engraving of the Triforce set into the floor was a grotesque stone head that spewed out the water that filled the well. If only those villagers knew…

Zelda's Lullaby. Just like last time, the soft notes of the song ceased the flow of water from the head on the wall. Now that the water was all drained out, Link jumped down into the pit beneath the head where all the water had been pooling up and started crawling through a small passage set into the wall at the bottom. He'd been doing some growing so it was definitely a tight fight, especially around the shoulders, but he managed to squeeze through the narrow passage.

His memory carried him through the rest of the rooms till he found the one he was looking for. A room carved entirely out of damp red earth and what made it worse was the pale white hands sticking up out of the ground, their blood red nails adorning the fingertips like the petals of some freakish plant. Link shuddered at the thought of the clammy dead skin touching him again but…

"I'm coming, Dark."

And with that, he lunged forward. The Kokiri sword was too short for him to reach the long hand, but he tried, grunting as he felt the cold dead fingers wrap around his skull trying to crush it like an egg. He put up with it until he heard the sound of something else, something dead rising again from its grave. Link swing his sword up, slashing across the undead hand's wrist, forcing it to release him. Jumping out of range he turned to see the it; the pale and horribly bloated body that walked towards him with coal black eyes and a slack jaw full of bloodstained teeth.

He had to wait until the thing lowered its head and he almost choked on the caustic smell of rotting meat on its breath. He swung. This creature had no intelligence and no arms of its own to speak of so a few well placed swings and its severed head fell off, its body collapsing a moment later, twitching and spewing foul green smelling blood all over the place . Link sighed, going over to wait as the chest containing the Lens of Truth finished materializing.

Once he had his treasure, Link was eager to be away. Uttering a quick prayer to invoke the Goddess Farore, Link vanished in a flash of green light, reappearing at the entrance to the well. The townspeople above had just finished organizing a rescue party when Link hauled himself over the edge of the well and dropped down into the grass. The crowd was staring, possibly due to the foul green blood covering him from the creatures in there. Then he noticed the guards.

"Yes, you want to clean out down there. It is definitely not sanitary."

And with that, he went running off towards the graveyard again. It was dawn and the sun was barely starting to show itself so Dampe was inside his little hut, sleeping during the day like everyone else to work the 'graveyard shift.'

At the back of the graveyard, the biggest tombstone marked the resting place of members of the royal family, but on a ledge above it, behind a wooden fence, lay the entrance to the Shadow Temple. The Hookshot dragged him up to grab onto the edge of the fence. Right behind it was the warp pedestal and behind that, a set of stairs descending into the hill. At the bottom of the stairs, a small rise surrounded by unlit torches guarded the door to the temple. It would only open if all the torches were lit. One think Link _had _managed to keep after the flow of time was reset were his childhood items. However, with no magic, he couldn't very well use a spell to open the door. Reaching down inside himself there was just nothing there. Time for plan B.

Link ran back to Dampe's house to borrow the lantern that was left carelessly sitting out on the front porch. It was just to borrow, he'd bring it back in a few minutes. Back up at the entrance to the Shadow Temple, he lit one torch with a lantern then pulled out a Deku stick and started running.

A low rumble emanated through the chamber as the old stone door creaked its way up into the ceiling and releasing a gust of stale wind carrying with it the scent of things long dead. Steeling his shoulders, Link headed into the dark depths of the Shadow Temple.

Just as he remembered, a pit was the first thing to greet the hero, though it had a lovely target for his Hookshot, only when Link tried to use it, he realized that the chain was too short to make it all the way.

"Of course," he muttered irritably, reflecting on the irony that it was Ganon's evil influence that had allowed him to reach Dark in the first place. "Heroes never give up though." And with grim determination, he made a running leap off the edge of the chasm to get closer to the target. The hook caught onto the target and nearly dislocated the boy's shoulder as it hauled him up to the target and solid ground.

A familiar bird statue and the same grotesque face greeted him but he didn't care about those. A short walk through a series of invisible walls to the left brought him to the room with the Hover Boots. Conveniently, no monsters lay in wait for him. Apparently without Ganondorf to lead them, no monsters had bothered to attack a Temple.

On the way in and out the other chests with money and keys and whatnot were all ignored. Nothing but Dark mattered. The Hover Boots ability to levitate allowed Link to simply float across the chasm in front of the entrance and allow him back outside.

Back outside, it started to rain over the village of Kakariko again. A natural rain not called by a spell-imbued song. Link watched the rain from his balcony for a few moments, relaxing as the cool breeze blew a few stray raindrops at him until he decided to leave (after returning Dampe's lantern.)

Pulling the Ocarina from his pocket, Link piped a quick merry jig that always got his foot tapping and a moment later he appeared in the middle of the Lost Woods. Behind him, the Forest Temple sat high up on a ledge. He imaged that stairs used to lead up there but they'd long since crumbled. Of course, Link didn't really care about the Forest Temple. He turned and looked out over the rest of the forest. Getting in here required going through a labyrinth infested by club-wielding giants, however, going back was a great deal easier. Down the stairs, a Giant waited, blocking the Temple entrance, so his back was turned and he never saw it coming when Link leapt up and slashed through the back of his neck.

After that, a short climb up a wooden ladder let him up on top of the walls of the maze so a few short jumps over some gaps and he was back at the beginning of the maze and jogging out into the woods. The Lost Woods, as their name implied, were notoriously difficult to navigate except for those who were born there. Though Link technically had been born elsewhere, he'd been raised Kokiri so he knew the woods well. Nearby, through the giant hollowed-out tree stumps that served as tunnels through the woods there'd be a pool of water that held a passage to the Zora's Domain.

Saria watched the object of her long-time crush come trotting into the clearing. It was now or never…

"Link."

He didn't turn around but she saw his shoulders droop, like he knew what was coming. That must mean his answer wouldn't be good…

"It's nice to see you again, Link…we don't see you around here too often anymore"

He just shrugged, still not turning around as she approached. "I'd actually…been hoping to talk to you about something," she continued hesitantly. "About us."

Link stiffened at those last two words. Goddess, but he just didn't have time to deal with this! Also unbeknownst to either of them, Mido happened to be in the area, eavesdropping from behind a log tunnel, listening to the one sided exchange. He was already grinding his teeth in frustration. What did Saria see in that punk kid anyways!

Link sighed, finally turning around to face her. He opened his mouth to say something but she placed a finger to his lips."

"Link listen…we've always been friends and I know just what a great person you are…and I was hoping maybe we could be more then just friends. Maybe we could be…" Saria's voice trailed off as she acted on her long time dream, leaning forward to kiss the boy she'd always wanted.

Mido, waiting by the tunnel wall felt his heart stop. Did she really mean to…?

He was just about to run out and interrupt when Link shot by in wild-eyed terror. All Mido saw was a green streak and a splash in the water behind him. He sat down, waiting for the boy to surface, but he never did.

Several miles away from the Lost Woods, a certain Kokiri gasped as his head broke water and he climbed, soaking wet out of the pool to stand on a stone bridge before the mighty waterfall that guarded the Zora's Domain. Link stood before the roaring falls, just staring at his Ocarina for a moment. He waited and waited and waited until finally the sneeze that had been building in his chest decided to come out and then he played Zelda's Lullaby, quieting the waters enough to jump through the hidden passageway in into the Zora's realm.

The Zora, an aquatic race, lived in a very watery area. Giant pools of water made up most of their domain with only thin paths carved in the mountains for their terrestrial visitors. As always, Link was struck by the beauty of Zora's Domain. This high vaulted cavern sported its own smaller version of the waterfall outside and he remembered fondly the days spent swan diving off the top of the waterfall, plunging down into the cool azure pool below to the applause of the Zora watching. Today however, there was no time for simple games. Running along the pathway, Link passed the way that would take him down to the shops, instead ascending up a long flight of stairs near the back that would take him up to the Royal audience chamber. Of course King Zora was always glad to see the Kokiri who'd saved his daughter, Princess Ruto who would later grow up to be the Sage of Water.

Ruto, though still a child herself was convinced that Link was her fiancé and took every opportunity to try seducing the boy and consequently making fun of the shy blushing blond. Ignoring her coy smile, Link ran out into the large contained lake where the guardian god of the Zora resided, though Jabu-Jabu was really just a giant whale. How he'd gotten into such a small enclosed lake was a conundrum Link was still trying to figure out.

Spotting the whale god, the blond couldn't help but shiver. He'd spent three days wandering around inside that thing and now intimately knew his way around Jabu-Jabu's stomach. That stench of decay was very different from the smell of the Shadow Temple. It was the smell of thousands upon thousands of rotting fish corpses. That first time had been the worst. So large was the whale that all he needed to do was open his mouth and inhale to suck Link off his feet from twenty feet away. Fortunately, his plan did not involve a stroll through whale intestines.

Instead, he ran to the side, hopped in the water and swam around to the back, climbing up the tail like a ramp to stand on top of the whale. "I really hope this works," Link muttered, setting down his entire sack of bombs and eyeing it dubiously. "Well… here goes nothing."

Hesitantly, he lit a bomb and dropped it inside the bag with all the rest of his entire stock of bombs and waited, ducking down to cover his face and chest… With a deafening explosion, all the bombs blew up at the same time sending Link flying through the air like a cannonball, head clouded and ears ringing as he watched the entrance of the Ice Caverns fast approaching. It looked like he was going to hurtle into the jagged rocks. One single click of his heels and the Hover Boots activated, carrying Link's wind blown body a full fifteen feet to deposit it in a large pile of snow.

Pulling himself out of the snow, Link staggered deeper into the caves. Wet and walking into an ice cave wearing only shorts, Link was freezing and completely disoriented from the shock still ringing in his ears. But at least the foolhardy plan had worked. Still holding the map, he followed the quickest route to the room where the Iron Boots would be waiting.

Teeth chattering and hugging his arms to his chest Link scurried through the tunnels carved in snow. Without the monsters, the only form of security to watch out for were the falling icicles that dislodged from the ceiling and a single slow spinning ice blade. More than any of that, the biggest threat was Link himself. Ever since he'd woken up his body felt so frail. He couldn't keep his breath and had no stamina to speak of and now, running dripping wet through the frigid caverns where each pant blew his breath out in foggy white clouds, he just wanted to lay down and sleep…

No! Thoughts like that were dangerous. Never mind how small patches of ice were forming on his bare legs and hanging off his hair and turning his tunic into a stiff immobile suit. Just keep running, just keep breathing.

Whipping his sword out to smash some icy stalagmites out of his way, Link ran through what should be the last door only to be faced with … A treasure box. Throwing his box open and grabbing the boots, Link whipped out his Ocarina and played the Serenade of Water as fast as his numb fingers could manage and a moment later was laying on the island of Lake Hylia. The chills still wracked his body and plugged his nose. He'd probably be getting sick any day because of it but first… something very important had to happen. He had to be sure Dark was ok.

A sudden stinging pain all across his front had Link almost wishing he was back in the Ice Caverns. Almost. The frigid chill engulfing him almost immediately after setting off his entire stock of bombs had numbed the pain of the numerous burns that now covered his arms and legs.

While he didn't have any ice, the cool water of the lake would work just as well to soothe the burns. Link dove off the island and into the water, letting out a relieved sigh as the pain ebbed away into obscurity once more. One tap of his heels and the blond head sank beneath the gently waves to drop to the lake bed. He was about halfway down when the need for air became a sudden pressing need. But he'd barely been under! Was it the incoming sickness that made it so hard to hold his breath? Pulling out his Hookshot before getting to the ground, he shot out the blue diamond shaped lock that would allow the gates to raise.

Lungs screaming for air, Link deactivated the boots right as he made it to the depth of the gates and swam through, breaking the surface of the water just when he thought he'd explode. Coughing and sputtering, the Kokiri hauled himself out of the water to just lay in the entrance way, shivering and oddly reminiscent of the small and pathetic form of an abandoned cat in the rain.

Once he'd gotten his breathing under control, Link wrung the excess water out of his out of his hair and set off. True, it was kind of a pointless effort, but having water dripping off his bangs was thoroughly annoying.

While the trek through the Water Temple was just as miserable as he remembered it, at least no monsters lay in wait. Did that mean Dark wouldn't be there? No, Dark wasn't a monster.

Still, the lack of enemies made the temple go by a whole lot faster and it wasn't too long before he found himself floating up to a familiar little alcove. Beyond that door, his partner should be waiting for him.

The room of fog was also eerily similar to how Link remembered it. Taking a deep breath, Link splashed through the ankle deep water to the tree in the middle and circled all the way around it. "Dark? Dark are you here?" Link's lonely voice echoed through the room with no answer. It was then that he noticed that neither door was locked. No one was here and it crushed Link's hopes. Sighing dejectedly, he trudged towards the door. While he was here, he might as well grab the Longshot like he'd promised Dampe.

He was just about to the door when bars dropped down to block his access. Link's heart lept up into this throat and he turned around to see a pair of red eyes watching him from atop the tree. He ran forward as Dark dropped to the sand only to slow when he saw the blade sitting in Dark's hand.

"Hero of Time. Welcome…to my humble home." The same casual greeting from last time. It hit Link like a punch in the stomach. What if Dark didn't remember him?

"Dark, what are you doing?" Link asked, slowly drawing his own sword. Clenching his fist, the Triforce burst in to brilliance and in a flash of light, Link was left standing in his adult form but even that did nothing to restore any of his lost stamina. He still had his muscles but his body felt so… frail. Coupling that with the short length of the Kokiri sword, he didn't stand a chance of winning this.

"It's my duty to take you down. Nothing personal." Indeed, it was nothing personal. Dark's voice was cold, impersonal. "Get ready."

Shaking his head sadly Link looked his one time partner in the eye and tossed his sword to land point down in the sand. "I surrender."

Dark stared incredulously, his blade dipping into the sand. "W-what did you say?" he asked slowly, as though trying to comprehend what he was hearing.

"I surrender. I give up. I concede. You win." Sliding to the sanding island with his back against the tree, Link leaned his head back and shut his eyes. "My quest is done. I have no reason to fight you. If you want to kill me that's fine. I am just glad to see you're alright. It gives me a chance to say that I love you and I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye." Tugging his wet gloves off, messing with his hair, Link did anything he could think to avoid looking Dark in the eye.

A sudden shift in the sand said that Dark was near him and asked in a much quieter tone, "You do know what surrendering implies right?

Link couldn't help but snort. He knew that calculating glint and lecherous leer. Dark knew exactly who he was and was just…being Dark. But still, the question did merit thought. So he'd admitted his feelings. Was he really ready for **that?**

Dark noticed the hesitation and was about to back off when a sudden hand shot out, grabbed his shirt, pulled him forward and the next thing he knew Link was kissing him. Kneeling down with a leg on either side so the blond couldn't escape, he deepened the kiss and felt something fumbling at his belt buckle in return. The heavy strip of leather fell to the sand and Dark pulled back, shivering slightly when the sword calluses on Link's fingers slid up his tunic and across the sensitive skin on his stomach. Ever so slowly, the black tails of his tunic lifted up as Link pushed it higher to reveal the pale skin underneath.

He had to lean forward to get close enough for it to come all the way off but soon Dark sat bare from the waist up. He heard the sharp intake of breath when Link saw it; the large, jagged pink scar left on his stomach from being gored by Ganon's giant horns. "I'm sorry Dark," the blond whispered, leaning forward to lay a kiss over the sunken in mass of scar tissue.

Sighing half in pleasure at the feel of those soft lips on something so sensitive and half in worry at the sorrow thick on Link's voice, Dark laid a hand on the mess of damp blond hair, stroking it back. "Don't worry about that. We both made it through, right?" Pushing the boy back, Dark dropped his fingers the other belt. He felt Link stiffen but make no move to stop him from removing it and then tugging the forest green tunic over his head.

Right about in the same spot, Dark trailed his fingers down to the scar left over from Link impaling himself on the Master Sword. The two scars even looked similar since the top and bottoms of Dark's circular wound had torn when Ganon tossed him through the air, the end result mimicking the oval shaped sword wound. Seeing the one thing to mar the blond's otherwise perfect body brought him back to that day, opening his eyes right as Link ripped the Master Sword out of where he'd sheathed it within himself. He remembered the sallow cast of the Hero's skin, the great spurts of blood shooting out of the wound and watching him fall to the ground.

Caught up in the past and the emotional turmoil of each thinking the other was dying, it was all they could do but collapse into the sand and hold on tightly, arms twined together just as they'd been right at that very end where, had the Gods not intervened, how they would have died together.

But that was over and done with. Dark had the living breathing Hero of Time laying here in his arms and that reminded him. "Hey Link…y'know, the journey is over. You know what that makes you?" he asked slyly, pulling back to eye the blond.

"Hmm? What?"

"Boyfriend." Grinning, he leaned in and laid a quick kiss against Link's jaw and slid his hand down the heated skin to rub a thumb across one of the blond's nipples. The grin widened further upon hearing the quiet moan it earned and he was eager to hear more.

"Dark, don't…Da-ah!" Link cut off when Dark's tongue laved over the other one.

"Nope. I can feel it in your shoulders. You're stressed way the fuck out and you need to relax so just lay back and let me take care of you."

Link muttered something unintelligible as blood heated his face a second before feeling the quick nip of teeth biting into his shoulder and, after that, a kiss on the mark. Down Dark went, kissing and biting a trail down the smooth expanse of skin beneath him.

He kept his eyes on his boyfriend's face as he did this, very amused at the blood rushing up to the boy's face, but the moans it caused had his own blood rushing to an entirely different place. Savoring the feel of success, a pair of pale graceful fingers tugged at the ties, loosening Link's pants, then curving under the waistline to tug them off.

Finally, after all this time his Hero lay before him, ripe for the taking. What he saw had Dark's breath catching in his throat and his pants feeling uncomfortably tight. Dark moved down, taking a tight grip on the boys hips and flicked his tongue out just once and was rewarded with a sharp gasp.

Digging his fingers into the sand, Link stared down and bit his lip as Dark's eyes flicked open and it only deepened his blush. Not only was Dark doing something so embarrassing but he had to _watch, _too? Link shivered once again, watching the very tip of Dark's tongue poke out of his mouth to slide over his lips as he went to work.

_Goddesses, where did he learn to do this?_ Link wondered hazily, threading his fingers through the soft black hair before him. He felt helpless, trying to move but the tight grip on his hips kept the blond pinned firmly to the ground, curling his toes in captive bliss.

"Dark, hurry," Link panted, face flushed, but Dark only laughed. The vibrations of his amused chuckle left tingling aftershocks behind. Groaning and tightening his grip on the soft black locks, Link's hurried panting at least showed they were getting somewhere.

"Damn it Dark…are you…trying to kill me?" Link choked out at the first feel of teeth. It didn't make any sense. He'd been trying for so long to get somewhere but now that he finally had Link's pants off, he had decided to take his sweet time? The slow casual air, the slight smirks, the teasing and having those lust-hazed red eyes drinking in his moans like wine, it was torture; torture in the most amazing way possible but it could only last for so long.

Hot and flushed, Link stared blankly up at the ceiling as his heart hammered in his chest while Dark curled up next to him, smirking and purring like a self satisfied cat. "You're welcome."

The helpful statement had the blond rolling his eyes but playing along couldn't hurt. "Thank you, Dark."

Smiling contently, Dark reached up and laid something cold and metallic against the Hero's chest and when he looked down, the Water Medallion glinted back at him. "No problem. Saved that for you by the way. Thought you might want it."

Nodding gratefully, Link laid back, exhausted. As soon as he shut his eyes the glowing Triforce on the back of his hand faded back into a pallid glow as it did when not in use. Unable to maintain the spell any longer, Link vanished to be replaced by his child form but it wasn't only him. Dark vanished as well and in his place lay an eleven year old elven boy with midnight locks and crimson eyes, twined around the young blond.

"G'night beautiful," Dark whispered, reaching up to brush a sweat-drenched strand of hair out of the boy's face before slipping off to join him in a deep satisfied slumber_._


	20. Epilouge

The sun shone down over Lake Hylia, glinting off the sheen of sweat that covered the backs of the two Heroes of Hyrule. The journey was over and the two young lovers had each other, and it seemed like happily ever after had finally arrived. Finally there was no looking around for monsters, no threat that always demanded attention. Link and Dark could just lay back and enjoy the weather.

"It's strange to think that everything all started here, isn't it?" Link asked, absently running a hand through the long black hair next to him. That was one thing he'd learned recently; Dark's hair was phenomenal. In spite of the lack of consistent available bathing, it never ceased to be the softest thing he'd ever felt. It was one of the things that occupied Link's mind during their bonding.

For some reason, after "surrendering" down in the Water Temple, it was as though part of his mind had opened up and now had a constant awareness of his alter ego. He could feel over in the right side of his chest, a faint pulse that beat to the same rhythm of Dark's heart. Thinking on it, the best explanation he could come up with was that his wish to the Goddesses was coming true.

"Yeah. I want you even more now then I did then," Dark teased, pulling closer. "I've got your blood flowing through my veins. When do I get the rest of you, hmm? Don't you love me?"

Dark's voice was suddenly in full seduction mode as he flipped over to straddle his boyfriend's hips and pin him to the ground. "O-of course I do," Link stammered, blushing and looking to the side. "I-I just…give me a chance to grow up a little? I don't think I could submit to you again if I wanted to. This body is not…d-developed enough for…" gritting his teeth, his voice trailed off into nothing as heat suffused his face.

"Well that's alright. As long as I can say you're mine," Dark piped happily, flopping back down to finish his nap. How his mood could change so quickly was still a mystery, but Link didn't mind. He was safe and everything he cared about was laying right next to him.

-Three Months Later-

Link and Dark strolled through the Lost Woods on the way back from the Goron City. The towering trees swayed in every errant breeze, releasing dead leaves and pine needles that carpeted the forest floor in every clearing between the tunnel like stretches between the roots of the giant trees.

"Hey Dark. Do you know what today is?" Link hopped up on a nearby boulder, drumming his heels against the weathered grey stone while his boyfriend pondered the question.

"Uhm…Tuesday?" It was just a guess of course. Hell if Dark knew; he had better things to think about than what day of the week it might be at any given time. Link laughed as a crisp breeze blew through the clearing to stir up a small tornado of leaves.

"Actually it's Friday."

About to ask why he cared what day it was a sudden flush of color staining the blond's cheeks held his question. "It's also our birthday." Seeing the blank look on Dark's face, he explained further. "Today, I have been alive for exactly twelve years and I figure, since we don't know when your birthday is, you could borrow mine."

Ignoring how cute his shadow's confused head tilt looked, he hopped down off the boulder and stepped up to wrap his arms around Dark's neck. The icy bite of cold metal on his warm skin made the black haired swordsman flinch before curiously inspecting a simple silver medallion hanging on a chain around his neck. The medallion itself was a slightly smaller copy of the Water Medallion that Link wore around his neck.

The cool metal against his skin had a sudden offset with the warm kiss pressed against his cheek. "Happy Birthday, Dark."

Pale hands grabbed Link's shoulders, pulling him into a tight embrace as Dark felt his eyes welling up. "But I…don't have anything for you."

Why did no one tell him about things like this? It made him feel inferior somehow, as though he should have known and been suitably prepared. "But I don't want anything from you besides what you already give me."

However, in spite of Link's assurance that it was fine, the day was carved into Dark's memory as he swore not to be caught off guard by this again.

-One Year Later-

Link trudged down the stone passageways of Hyrule Castle to his room. The messenger of the Royal Family ended up being a much more labor intensive job than he'd anticipated when Zelda offered it to him. Still, Link was one of the few people in the country who'd earned the respect of all the different races so it only made sense for him to do it. At least today Zelda had given him the day off. It was his birthday after all and he was just getting back from the Mages 'Guild with his prize in a carved wooden box under his arm.

Finally, at the very end of the hallway the heavy wooden door for his own personal quarters. _And Dark_. The room itself was nothing special but it was one of the many things he and his partner shared. At the moment, Dark was making full use of the four poster bed, laying spread eagle right in the middle and snoring lightly.

Smirking, Link kicked his shoes off and walked silently over to the dresser to set the box down and sit on the bed next to Dark. With a gentle sigh he trailed his fingers along the thick scar, looking white against the boy's pallid skin. Not that he minded, he actually liked Dark's coloring, or rather the lack thereof.

Murmuring quietly, Dark's crimson eyes cracked open to see Link sitting there and immediately he sprang up and pulled the boy into a tight hug. "Welcome back! I missed you!"

Link smiled and hugged back. The enthusiastic greetings always made him feel warm inside, like Dark was always happy to see him. And he was. When Link wasn't around, Dark spent his time training the Palace Guard. He was actually something of a oddity. None of the normal guard were happy about the fact that Dark was so much better than any of them.

"I was out with the Guards all morning, cleaning up the usual challengers. They get so pissed off thinking about how they can't scratch a twelve-year-old kid. What about you?" Dark propped himself up on an elbow and Link grabbed the box to present to his partner.

"Not twelve any more. Thirteen. Just got back from getting your gift."

Dark took the box, turning it over curiously. A light wood with simple carvings and a basic clasp to keep it shut, the box was nice, but when he opened it Dark's breath caught in his throat. Glittering up at him from a nest of red velvet lay an ornately crafted silver bracelet of delicately worked vines curling around rubies and garnets. "Red and silver look good on you. Happy birthday Dark."

He stared at the bracelet speechlessly. The silver alone must have cost an arm but to add gems? To top it all off, as soon as he fastened it around his wrist, a sudden surge of power flowed through his body. "You enchanted it too? Link, how much did all this cost?"

"Mmm… 1,200 Rupees if I recall correctly." Dark's jaw dropped considering all that money. That was roughly nine months of salary working with the guards but Link shrugged it off like it was nothing. "Nayru almighty, just how much does the princess pay you?" Underneath the initial shock, Dark's eyes flicked to the dresser drawer where his own gift was waiting but after seeing this, he was almost embarrassed to show it.

Noticing the silence, Link frowned. "What's wrong? Do you not like it?"

"No no, it's nothing like that, I just…" Sighing, he pulled open the draw to take out and intricately braided bracelet of laced leather and hanging from one of the cords dangled a carved wooden horse in striking likeness to Epona.

"You made this yourself?" Dark nodded, abashed over having his handiwork put under the slightest bit sof scrutiny. "I love it."

He didn't understand… That was a genuine smile but… "But you give me silver and rubies and I have leather and wood to give back. How'm I supposed to think its anywhere close to comparable?"

As soon as Link finished fastening on his bracelet he lunged forward, pinning Dark to the bed. "I am so sorry. I didn't expect you to have anything. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. I just wanted to have something nice. I haven't been around lately so I wanted to give you something worthwhile. And…" He tilted Dark's chin up to look into his eyes, "The thought is the most important thing. It doesn't really matter what the gift is so long as you're thinking about them."

Dark considered this for a moment, hugging his knees to his chest before rolling onto his back. "Well, if that's how it is, know what I would really love to get from you."

Of course he did. The seductive purr spoke volumes and had blood rushing to heat the blond's face. "Yes I do, and I still…can you wait just one more year?"

Damn, just a look and a whisper had Link's heart thumping in his chest and he hated being so impressionable, especially since his answer had Dark crossing his arms and pouting.

"T-tell me something Dark. Why do you want this so much?"

"Cause I love you."

"Is that all?"

Dark nodded, confused. "Then, it doesn't matter how it happens so long that it does, correct?"

Again, Dark nodded slowly and Link sighed. "It will hurt, wont it?" Sighing again, he hung his head before finally conceding, "I'll…think about it."

"Mmm… Thanks love"

-Almost a year later-

Of the many powers Link held as the Chosen of the Gods, the first he'd discored was that of prophetic dreams to warn of impending danger. They were back.

**He was walking down a simple dirt path with nothing else around in the middle of the day. Nothing else anywhere when suddenly the clouds overhead part and the sun flashes out, bright and fierce and everywhere. The grass shrinks down until nothing remains but sand all around and his shadow shrinks down till it vanishes along with the beating in his chest. That part at the end was worse to feel it fading, the physical bond he held to Dark. The beating of his heart fading away until it was gone; nothing but a hollow shell left over.**

"Dark!"

Link's scream echoed through the cold stone room and he bolt upright in a cold sweat drenching his entire body.

"Nn, whaswrong?" Dark's sleep heavy eyes cracked open and he sat up, looking around for whatever it was that he needed to wake up for. Seeing the messy black hair and bleary red eyes moving next to him, Link buried his face in the pale shoulder to take some comfort in the strong protective arms that wrapped around him. "Just a dream huh? S'alright babe, calm down."

For a long time Link just lay there, letting the gentle motion of Dark's hands rubbing down his back steady his beating heart and console his troubled spirit.

The next day Dark made a travel to shop around the various bustling market stalls of the Town Square to spend a healthy sum for the birthday present he wanted to give. Sadly though, he wouldn't have the chance, for that night when Link awoke in the cold grip of terror, his first instinct was to cuddle up to the warmth of his partner. But the bed next to him was empty and cold, as though no one had lain in it for some time.

A wave of dizziness swept over the blond. His nightmare had come true. The Goddesses had warned him and now thier work was finished. Dark was gone.

_**In the land of Hyrule there echoes a legend. A legend held dearly by the Royal Family that tells of a boy… A boy who after battling evil and saving Hyrule, crept away from the land that had made him a legend. Done with the battles he'd once waged across Time, he embarked on a journey. A secret and personal journey. A journey in search of a beloved and invaluable friend…**_

**_AN: Well, thats it everyone. This story is officially done. If you can't tell from the ending paragraph, there will be another. A sequel is on the way as soon as i finish a few other backed up story ideas. I love this story, i love the characters and i love all my readers who take time out of your busy day to tell me what you think of my work. So, Give it 2 weeks tops while i get my thoughts in order and then we can head off on the next chapter in this adventure. By the way, if anyone hasn't added me on Story Alert, you may want to. OR, i can just send out PMs to whoever wants one when i get started on this next Zelda story. Thank you all so much for the support; its been a long road but with everyone's help i think we made a pretty good fic. So thats it for the sappy stuff. Ciao ~_**

**_~Fenrir~_**


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